Preparing for Flight

Ultra-low power reusable accelerometer loggers, capable of logging activity up to a year

Charges Bit Tag batteries and displays battery charge status.

Delivers power and data to Bit Tag chargers and programming base.

Protects Bit Tag contacts from short-circuits.

Flat wooden sticks, commonly used as coffee stirrers. Useful for applying tape to Bit Tags, and for measuring tape length.

Elastic sewing thread. May also be available through dental supply houses.

For cutting tape and harness material. The smaller the better.

Configures and downloads data from BitTag

Displays data and generates actograms.

Plug in Charger Base and ensure it is receiving power. A green light will illuminate on the Charger Base that is plugged in. All other Charger Bases can then share power from this Charger Base.

Remove nuts and lid from Charger Base

Place Bit Tag in the plastic holder, ensuring it seats fully.

Place lid on base, aligning dots.

Gently tighten nuts with one finger, to avoid damaging delicate electronics.

• Check to make sure BitTag makes contact with charger.
• Bit Tags typically take 48-27 hours to charge.
• Charging is Not complete when the battery indicator turns from red to green. To fully charge, batteries must be held at their charge voltage for 24-48 hours.

Place Bit Tag in Programmer Base, following the same procedure as installing Bit Tags into chargers. Note: Programmer Base must be plugged into computer before receiving a Bit Tag.

• Open the monitor program.
• Click “Attach”
• Check that battery voltage is 3.0 volts or greater. If not, detach and recharge. While still functional, battery voltage below 3.0 volts will result in suboptimal runtimes.

• If Bit Tag is in a state other than “IDLE”, you may need to “Stop” and then “Erase” Bit Tag.

• Once the tag is in the “idle” state, run the internal tests (“Test”) and then synchronize the clock “Sync”.
• If any tests fail, you should not use the tag.

• Click into the “Configure” tab.
• Schedule BitTag Data Collection

• Select Data Type Log Format based upon experiment requirements
  1. Activity Bit Per Second: Gives second-by-second log of whether or not the animal is active. Highest resolution data. Run Time of around 10 days.
  2. Activity Bit Count Per Minute: Records the percentage of each minute the animal was active. Run Time of around 100 days.
  3. Activity Bit Count Per Four/Five Minutes: Same as Activity Bit Count Per Minute, but over four or five minute intervals. Lowest resolution, but allows Run Time of around 365 days.

Click “Run” to save settings and start Bit Tag.

Return to the “Tag State” tab. Ensure that the Bit Tag is in the “CONFIGURED” or “RUNNING” state. If not, check your configuration and click “Run” again.

Click “Detach” and remove BitTag from base.

Cut a short strip of Insulating Tape just long enough to fully cover contacts (about 4mm - or the width of tape application sticks) on the back of Bit Tag.

Place tape partially on Tape Application Stick (leaving ~2mm overhang lengthwise) and gently stick one edge onto Bit Tag

Press stick firmly onto tape and “squeegee” out any air bubbles or pockets. Tape should sit flat on surface of Bit Tag.

Bit Tags can be attached via harness using the four mounting holes (1mm diameter). For songbird, the size of the leg-loop harness can be estimated using the function described by Naef-Daenzer (2007, J. Avian Biology, 38: 404-407)

Remove harnesses and insulating tape, being careful not to contact the Bit Tag with sharp or metallic tools. The Tape Application Stick can also be used to gently peel up the tape.

• Place Bit Tag into Programmer Base.
  • Note: Ensure Programmer Base is plugged into the computer first.
• Open the monitor program and attach.

Stop the BitTag.

• Save data. Important: Save your data as a “.txt” file.
  • Note: The data length may sometimes show up as zero, even if there is saved data onboard.
• Detach the BitTag and remove from base.

• Open btviz

• To import data click ‘load’ and select data file (data file should have a .txt extension)

If you need to trim your data, enter Start and End times then click “Zoom”

You may also use your mouse to visually select these times:

1. Double-click on the chart with the Left Mouse Button to set the Start time (One-finger double-click on Mac).

2. Double-click on the chart with the Right Mouse Button to set the End time (Double-click with two fingers, or while holding Control (⌃) on Mac).

3. Click “Zoom”

You may export your data in a variety of formats:

• PDF/PNG: Saves the currently displayed figure as an image
• CSV: Saves all data currently visible in the image as a .csv file of data points.

You may also view and save actograms by clicking on the ‘actogram’ tab at the top.