An unmanned aerial vehicle is configured to fly along a flight path and capture audio signals produced by animal species or emitted by collars coupled to animals. For example, the unmanned aerial vehicle may include a rail mount to which various attachments can be coupled. One such attachment may be a rail attachment coupled to a support that carries a microphone, a recording device, and/or a radio frequency (RF) transceiver. The microphone can capture audio signals and transmit the captured audio signals to the recording device for storage. The RF transceiver can receive signals emitted by collars and forward the signals to a remote receiver. A remote system can compare the captured audio signals with animal species audio signatures or expected data payloads to identify which animal species are present along the flight path and/or the location at which the animal species are present.
