Wildlife Studies

11 February 2026

sage grouse in mating area or lek — Sage grouse in mating area or lek

The Aerial Autonomous Systems Office (AASO) collaborated with The Nature Conservancy and the Matador Ranch in eastern Montana to improve sage grouse population counts and gender differentiation, which is crucial for monitoring this declining species. We used thermal and night vision imagery from drones and applied machine learning algorithms to automatically detect grouse from these aerial images, aiming for more efficient and accurate population assessments.

thermal imagery of sage grouse from a altitude of 150 ft — Thermal imagery of sage grouse from an altitude of 150 ft