Western Screech-owl Passive Acoustic Analysis

Coastal Western Screech-Owl (WESO) is a federally threatened subspecies, whose habitat needs are poorly understood. Currently, critical habitat (CH) mapping is being developed through collaboration between LWRS and ECCC. Recent field inventory has been conducted to address information gaps in WESO habitat use, including deployment of passive acoustic recorders. The current contract will analyze field recordings to identify WESO occurrences from recordings to improve CH mapping, contribute to our understanding of WESO detection rates and occupancy patterns, and collate information on passive acoustic monitoring to date to support ongoing research on vocal individuality of WESO and habitat associations.
The proponent will be responsible for processing the data collected from Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) and providing a summary of the Locations, ARU Units, and dates of all positive WESO detections and verification of detection results. Data will be analyzed following methodology set out in a report provided to the successful bidder.
The proponent will develop and draft a report summarizing the outcome of the ARU data analysis determined from the audio recordings and provide detection results and verification in an excel table.

Estimated budget: $45,000
The contract will include two (2) options to renew of 12 months duration.
There will be a minimum of 3 project meetings before the final delivery.
Timeline:
Analysis Progress report due February 15 ^th , 2025.
Final deliverable due March 15 ^th , 2025.

Requirements:
Desired capabilities include analyzing ARU data and using open-source audio analysis software, verifying detection results and managing and tracking ARU metadata.
Desired experience includes working with large volumes of audio data, tracking and maintaining metadata from ARU recordings, and identifying Western Screech-owl vocalizations. Proponents will be required to provide one report or reference supporting you have actively worked on one research or inventory study involving owls or Western Screech-owl.
Proponents will be evaluated on their approach to successfully meet the deliverables of the RFP.