24/7 Raspberry Pi/birdNET monitoring (12 Viewers)

[Lerxst]

The Birdnet Pi community seems very supportive and interested in the question of field use. See for example, this thread: How to handle wifi-access (and more) "in the field"? · mcguirepr89/BirdNET-Pi · Discussion #119

As far as having something in the field, I'm happy with Merlin in the US (and the one week that I used it in Europe this year, it worked fine)... I have tried it elsewhere and it was useless. But I expect that will change, at least as rapidly as anything else.

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

I don't think anything does that out of the box, if you have some coding skills the birdNET-Pi project is probably a better approach as its open source so you could just add the custom alerts to the code.

Correction to the above, I had a look at the v1.5 birdweather app and it does have species specific notifications under Mobile App Settings - Notifications, you can either have all new species or pick from a list. Of course you will have to put up with the odd false positive or two...

Also worth pointing out that it isn't mandatory to post detections to the web, that can be turned off.

 

[Lerxst]

Also worth pointing out that it isn't mandatory to post detections to the web, that can be turned off.

That is what I did. At first I was taken by the novelty of having my real-time results on a map, but then I asked, why? There are plenty of false positives and it seems odd to advertise them. The point of this unit for me is that I have ears 24/7 out in my yard, and if something novel is reported, I check the record by listening to it, and if there are any doubts I upload it to the online birdNET for further verification. If I catch it soon enough, I might be able to get my good recording gear pointed at it before it leaves or shuts up.

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

If anyone is using the BirdWeather app don't forget to keep up with new releases, a new one got posted yesterday (v1.5.4) with 'bug fixes and performance improvements'. Worth noting that just 5 days earlier there was another (v1.5.2) with the same description!

 

[S_Man]

Is there any freeware for Windows that could digest my .wav files recordings, and ID species?

I have hours of recordings mostly at night, but I usually just parse the sonograms to find anything usnusual...

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

Is there any freeware for Windows that could digest my .wav files recordings, and ID species?

I have hours of recordings mostly at night, but I usually just parse the sonograms to find anything usnusual...

Yes the PC version of birdNET aka birdNET-analyzer. There is a Windows zip file which is the easiest to get up and running with.

GitHub - kahst/BirdNET-Analyzer: BirdNET analyzer for scientific audio data processing.

BirdNET analyzer for scientific audio data processing. - kahst/BirdNET-Analyzer

github.com

 

[S_Man]

Yes the PC version of birdNET aka birdNET-analyzer. There is a Windows zip file which is the easiest to get up and running with.

GitHub - kahst/BirdNET-Analyzer: BirdNET analyzer for scientific audio data processing.

BirdNET analyzer for scientific audio data processing. - kahst/BirdNET-Analyzer

github.com

I see... the usual Python nerd stuff rabbit hole!

I finally ran it successfully from a command prompt with:

"BirdNET-analyzer --i "path to wav file to analyze" --o "path to text file to create for the results"

Thanks a lot!!

Edit: I found a new species for my plot, Lesser whitethroat! and it looks good after checking the calls. And others that I haven't seen for a while.
That said, this Windows version doesn't do the real time analysis apparently? I can't connect a microphone, or USB audio interface and get the ID immediately, unlike the PI? Just curious about the possibilities...

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

I see... the usual Python nerd stuff rabbit hole!

I finally ran it successfully from a command prompt with:

"BirdNET-analyzer --i "path to wav file to analyze" --o "path to text file to create for the results"

Thanks a lot!!

Edit: I found a new species for my plot, Lesser whitethroat! and it looks good after checking the calls. And others that I haven't seen for a while.
That said, this Windows version doesn't do the real time analysis apparently? I can't connect a microphone, or USB audio interface and get the ID immediately, unlike the PI? Just curious about the possibilities...

No, you could run a local copy of the birdweather app if you wanted real time - make sure you turn off server submissions before you click Listen for the first time and you won't appear on their map, but you won't get the sound clips stored then. If you want to replay the sounds you have to submit to the central server which for me raises big privacy concerns.

 

[S_Man]

No, you could run a local copy of the birdweather app if you wanted real time - make sure you turn off server submissions before you click Listen for the first time and you won't appear on their map, but you won't get the sound clips stored then. If you want to replay the sounds you have to submit to the central server which for me raises big privacy concerns.

Thanks.

I don't like this big data folly, either. Of course the cloud offers huge advantages, but my idea is that as soon as data is transferred from a personal device (ie almost any software/app), it should be mandatory to inform users clearly and extensively about who/where/what happens with the data, and this should be easily accessible from a menu (without blocking the UI, eg the EU's cookies policy on website, often not practical at all), and ideally with the choice to uncheck the parts you don't want to share, and updated as soon as the usage of your data changes! In this case of sharing audio online, this information and the risks are obvious (hopefully, so a few lines should be enough to inform accurately), but I'm speaking in a general way...

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

If anyone was toying with getting a BirdWeather PUC but put off by the price you may get one quite a bit cheaper via their Kickstart program, if you 'pledge' UKP161/USD199. If this link doesn't hold then follow the kickstart link from birdweather.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scribelabs/birdweather-puc/rewards#reward-UmV3YXJkLVVtVjNZWEprTFRrMU16VXpNelE9

(I have no financial or other interest in this company!).

Do bear in mind that last I heard the PUC, unlike the App, won't work standalone but only connected to their server. If in any doubt check with the developer for the latest situation but running real time detections on device eats a lot of power so I'm not sure if this will change in the future.

 

[GreenRooky]

Just bumping this as only a couple of days left on the kickstarter

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

btw just a little correction to earlier comments about the BirdWeather app, I read now that the Android version isn't the full standalone version but only controls a PUC? The iOS/iPadOS version can run its own detections or control a PUC.

 

[timsterc]

btw just a little correction to earlier comments about the BirdWeather app, I read now that the Android version isn't the full standalone version but only controls a PUC? The iOS/iPadOS version can run its own detections or control a PUC.

That's correct. The official BirdNET mobile app (both iOS and Android) now includes support for BirdWeather! Stefan has been rolling it out in waves, but we're super stoked. Our team efforts will primarily be focused around PUC features for the next few months, now that we're nearly through our Kickstarter campaign.

Cheers!
-Tim

 

[MiddleRiver]

Tim, one thing that I find missing is a more detailed explanation of what is stored on SIM card. I can't 'afford' the cloud data 'hit' but would love to record 24/7 in a waterproof device. Are they WAV files? Can I run the output through a waveform analyzer to see (visually) what's on there, or use something similar to how Batlogger works?

 

[timsterc]

Tim, one thing that I find missing is a more detailed explanation of what is stored on SIM card. I can't 'afford' the cloud data 'hit' but would love to record 24/7 in a waterproof device. Are they WAV files? Can I run the output through a waveform analyzer to see (visually) what's on there, or use something similar to how Batlogger works?

If there is no WiFi/internet connection on power-up, then the PUC automatically goes into SD Recording Mode. It will store the audio recordings (WAV or FLAC) on the SD card, as well as writing sensor data to the PUC_Data.csv file.

 

[recordist]

I've debated on using it but I'm currently using the Solo recorder software on my first gen RPI B. You can setup calendars to record at certain hours but there seems to be a bug in the script and I can't figure it out due to not having the knowledge of python. Apart from that it works great.

 

[birdappa]

Any ideas for a fully outdoors/waterproof/weatherproof battery and solar panel combo for keeping the 5v device listening 24x7?

 

[GreenRooky]

My PUC arrived today, looking forward to putting it to use and seeing what it hears that I might normally miss

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

Yes I noticed an uptick in British and near continent numbers from the recent batch. How many are using it as a drop off I wonder?

 

[GreenRooky]

Yes I noticed an uptick in British and near continent numbers from the recent batch. How many are using it as a drop off I wonder?

What do you mean drop off? Leaving it at a remote location?