Waterbird communities are potential indicators of ecological changes in threatened wetland ecosystems and a potential object of ecological monitoring programs. Waterbirds often breed in largely inaccessible colonies in flooded habitats, so unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys provide a robust method for estimating their breeding population size. In this study the main breeding colony of Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) at the Doñana National Park was surveyed.

A user-friendly tool, called SpotEgg, has been developed to analyse colour and pattering in digital images. The tool, operated through a Graphical User Interface, runs over Matlab 2012b or latter and was primarily aimed to analyse colouration in bird´s eggs. Nevertheless it can also measure reflectances and spottiness in any other type of objects as insects, feathers, frogs, etc.