Limited season · Selective capacity
Know where key species are calling — and how to manage for them
Where are they? How are populations doing? What should you change on the ground? Acoustic listening turns calling into decisions — with the health of your land as the through-line.
We take a limited number of properties each listening season. Built for landowners, land managers, and agencies who need practical answers: where key birds are on the property, how populations are trending, and how to manage habitat with that data — not just detections. Typical fit: 100+ acres, public or private working lands.
Species insight
Actionable insights for management
Continuous acoustic records turn calling activity into actionable insights — when key game and non-game birds are present, how activity shifts across the season, and where to focus habitat work so management effort actually lands.
- Northern Bobwhite
- Wild Turkey
- Ruffed Grouse
- And more
Hear bobwhite calls
Spectrogram of bobwhite calls
Map covey and whistle calling for bobwhite — including survival and rebound signals after hard winters — so cover, food-plot, burn, roost, and access decisions land where activity actually concentrates.
The same listening network also tracks wild turkey gobbling and ruffed grouse drumming and calling — timing and location that help focus habitat work where birds actually use the property.
Soundscape view
Broader biodiversity — actionable signals for habitat decisions
The same listening network that tracks management targets also reads the wider bird community. Long-term calling patterns reveal presence, absence, and change — actionable signals for habitat quality that traditional morning surveys can miss.
Indigo Bunting is a clear example: multi-year daily detections show seasonal calling peaks and year-to-year shifts — insight you can use to judge whether edge, shrub, and early-successional habitat is working beyond a single target species.
Photo: Tyler Savitski / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Management meaning
From sound to action on the ground
Detections alone are not a plan. We translate calling into actionable insights — where activity concentrates, how seasons compare, and what to do next on the ground.
Year-to-year context keeps you from over-reading a quiet season or missing a rebound. Comparing covey calling tops across seasons separates habitat signal from noise — so management decisions rest on real patterns, not a single bad week.
Continuous listening and spectrogram analysis can detect smaller population shifts than traditional surveys — so you catch change earlier and manage with more confidence.
Minimum detectable change / sensitivity (Northern Bobwhite published work)
Acoustics
~12%
Most sensitive — finer resolution of population change.
Helicopter
~26%
Typical detection threshold from published comparisons.
Covey call surveys
~27%
Traditional ground survey sensitivity.
Roadside counts
~28%
Roadside count detection threshold.
Lower % = smaller shifts you can detect. Acoustics catches change earlier than traditional methods.
What people say
“Dr. Macaulay has also been instrumental in spearheading acoustic monitoring of northern bobwhite populations, an innovative and rapidly evolving approach that will help us track population trends and inform management actions in the future.”
“Luke has been crucial to helping me with both of my farms — to build better habitat. The programs are full of details and to the point… They work!”
“Luke has done a phenomenal job of bringing land managers of all stripes together to share words of wisdom. I am very grateful for the prescribed fire, grassland bird habitat, and other great knowledge sharing.”
Property fit form
All fields are required. Fit requests are reviewed personally. We only move forward with landowners, land managers, and agencies ready to invest in deployments starting at a minimum of $10,000 and prepared to start within 30 days — capacity is limited.
Request received
Thank you. We’ll text or call if there’s a fit to schedule a short consult. Capacity is limited, so not every property is accepted this season.
Questions in the meantime? luke@landwildlife.com