Balance Environmental | bat call analysis | echolocation

Overview

Balance! Environmental is one of Australia’s leading providers of bat echolocation call analysis for the environmental assessment and approvals industry. Our comprehensive call identification service is founded on an extensive working knowledge of bat survey techniques and detector technology, backed by 20 years’ experience in identification of bat calls from throughout eastern and northern Australia.

Our expertise

Our Principal Analyst, Greg Ford, has played a significant role in the development of Australian standards for echolocation survey and bat call identification; and was a key contributor to the inaugural bat call identification keys published for Queensland and New South Wales. He works closely with detector manufacturers and other bat specialists on the design, use and interpretation of data from the evolving array of bat detectors available on the market.

Echolocation data formats

We accept echolocation call data recorded in both zero-crossing format (e.g. Anabat SD2, Anabat Express, Song Meter SM4ZC) and full-spectrum format (e.g. Song Meter SM2BAT, Anabat Walkabout, Anabat Swift).

Echolocation analysis platform

Data is analysed with the latest versions of Anabat Insight, AnalookW and Kaleidoscope Viewer, using a combination of manual, semi-automatic (filtering) and statistical techniques to achieve call identification. We have an extensive reference call library and also utilise the bat call guides and keys available for various regions.

Regional coverage

Our call identification capability encompasses most of eastern and northern Australia, including all of the Northern Territory and Queensland, plus most of New South Wales. We also offer call analysis for other Australian regions and Papua New Guinea, via our associate analysts who are recognised experts in their respective regions.

Experience

With a client base of over 60 consultancy firms, local and state government agencies and universities, Balance! Environmental has clearly positioned itself as a premium provider of these highly specialised expert services. We currently process 0.5-1.0 million bat call files per year from around 100 separate surveys, ranging from major mining and infrastructure EIS projects to small-scale local development assessments.

Bat call data accepted from:

Anabat SD1 & SD2
Anabat Express
Anabat Swift
Anabat Walkabout
Song Meter SM2BAT
Song Meter SM3BAT
Song Meter SM4ZC
Song Meter SM4FS
Echo Meter EM3
Echo Meter Touch

Data formats accepted include:

WAV - full spectrum audio
WAC - Wildlife Acoustics compressed audio
ZC (*.**#) - standard zero-crossing
ZCA - Anabat Express zero-crossing