picocam

modeling hummingbird bills with photogrammetry

PicoCam is a device at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture that uses photogrammetry to build 3D models of bird bills from a series of 2D photos. This method allows biologists to get complex morphological measurements (such as sharpness or curvature) from living organisms in the field with a high degree of accuracy. PicoCam has aided several morphological studies at the Burke (see the Green Hermit Project) and is currently being used to build a library of bird bill models.

Above: A graphical overview of PicoCam operation. (1) PicoCam is assembled from six cameras around a rotating platform that holds a hummingbird. (2) Each camera simultaneously photographs the hummingbird from different angles while the platform is rotated. (3) The RAW photos are adjusted and exported as TIFs. (4) The photos are aligned using digital photogrammetry software, creating a 3D mesh (A), and analysed (B) using 3D modelling software.
Right: A phylogenetic tree showing 19 species of hummingbirds. Each species has a corresponding 3D bill model generated by PicoCam, shown in profile view.

The methods for PicoCam were developed using museum specimens from the Burke and repeated trial and error with light positioning, arm angles and camera settings. After a repeatable, high-quality workflow was finalized, we tested PicoCam in the field, using live Rufous Hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus ) caught on Shaw Island, a small member of Washington's San Juan Islands. The photo to the right is me holding a particularly calm one of these birds during the field work.

Picocam's methods paper is published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, and has been written about by the social media team at the Burke Museum. PicoCam is still visible on the second floor of the Burke Museum, alongside several larger-than-life hummingbird bill models created by 3D-printing scans generated from PicoCam.

Cover photo: A Long-billed Hermit (Phaethornis longirostris), a species of hummingbird, set up in the middle of the PicoCam photogrammetry setup waits to be photographed. Photo: Timothy Kenney/Burke Museum