Thermography is becoming an effective and increasingly used tool in ecology studies. Its applications are manifold, ranging from the study of thermoregulation to ethology or animal welfare. It is allowing for the collection of a large amount of data on species for which many basic aspects of their natural history were unknown until recently.
A thermal camera (or thermal camera) measures temperature and provides a thermal image of objects without the need for contact, based on their infrared radiation emissions. Objects emit a certain amount of infrared radiation depending on their temperature. Generally, the higher the temperature of the object, the greater its radiation. These cameras provide images that allow observation of how an object emits heat by registering the temperature of each pixel of the image and assigning it a color tone.
As part of the LIFE Connect Ricotí project, we are testing this tool for locating individuals of the Dupont’s lark, as well as for detecting their nests. In the videos we show, you can see different individuals active at night, both on the ground and in flight, calling for several hours.
