"You want to have these people help you," Song said. "Otherwise, you have a big problem."
Song and Goldberg took interest in the search for the ivory-billed woodpecker after Goldberg read an article about the search in The New York Times.
Goldberg contacted the co-leaders of the search from Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology to volunteer systems he and Song were developing through their project, Collaborative Observatories for Natural Environments (CONE).
"Cornell's ornithology lab and Arkansas Game and Fish are crucial members of this team," Goldberg said. "They've been leading the search in Cache River and have a deep understanding of the bird and this environment."
Scott Henderson, director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said he looks forward to continued cooperation among groups studying the ivory-billed woodpecker.
"It's exciting for this agency to be involved in cutting-edge technology as we continue to research and understand what can be done to improve the habitat for this bird," he said. "We're pleased to be working alongside our partners in this ambitious venture."
CONE purposes to help natural scientists observe animals ?whether birds or mammals ?in the animals' habitats. Song and Goldberg have developed robots to webcast images of animals from the animals' habitats to natural scientists' computers.
In addition to the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, they've installed one of their robots in the Richardson Bay Audubon Sanctuary in California. Song and Goldberg have considered sites in Alaska and Rwanda to observe polar bears and gorillas, respectively.
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Source:Texas A&M University