9 ms·

Show HN: An e-ink frame that hears birds and draws them as 1800s illustrations

• RGS1811 20d ago
  This is one of the most wonderful uses of AI I've seen in a while.
  • telesilla 20d ago
    I agree. It's such a pity Cats don't recognize images, would make for wonderful CatTV.
• darvo31 20d ago
  Love the aesthetic of 1800s illustrations combined with modern tech. Wonder if it ever misidentifies a squirrel.
  • eichin 20d ago
    I haven't tried with BirdNet, but Merlin doesn't seem to ever false-positive on chipmunks or squirrels (there's been a suggestion that it should explicitly recognize them, and maybe some frogs too, since they're "loud thing in the same register" and it frustrates people that haven't figured it out yet...)
• arnemunthekaas 20d ago
  Author here. A mic listens to the sounds in my garden, BirdNET-Go (an open-source BirdNET classifier) detects birds by sound, and the e-ink frame draws a real 1800s natural-history illustration of each one as it hears them. Here’s a live web-demo from my garden in Bergen, Norway: https://fugleramme.arnegiacomo.dev https://fugleramme.arnegiacomo.dev A few things that might be interesting: - The screen only redraws when the set of birds changes, and dithers the collage down to six colours for the e-ink display. - Bigger birds sit toward the centre, scaled by real body mass. - 800+ cutouts across 400+ species, each cut from a real public domain plate. All art is historic and human-made. Coverage is currently best for the Nordics, Britain and Germany (but other parts of the world are in the works). - Runs fully local on a Raspberry Pi or your homelab (yes, even the classifier runs great on a RPI) The e-ink panel is optional and it can run web-only in a container against a BirdNET-Go you already have. Happy to answer any questions!
  • artexety 20d ago
    [dead]
  • smeej 20d ago
    Do you have your image source available somewhere? I'm not going to build this same thing, but I'd love to add some prints of birds to my shelves and, not knowing much about birds, it would help to have a set of pictures I could look through and go, "Ooh! This one!" and learn about them. It'd be a good jumping on point!
    • arnemunthekaas 20d ago
      Yeah, all art i attributed an linked in https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/tree/main/assets/artwork/classic https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/tree/main/assets/a.... Check the manifest for exact sources
  • onionisafruit 20d ago
    If I were to make one of these as a Christmas present for somebody in Texas, and I wanted to contribute work toward good coverage for the area, how big of a time commitment would that be? It sounds like the kind of hobby work I could get into for a few months.
    • arnemunthekaas 20d ago
      Less than you'd think, because you likely wouldn't need full "Texas coverage", you mostly need the birds that actually show up. BirdNET filters by location, you'll likely need a couple of dozen. Over the summer I've had about 40 visitors where I live. Right now the coverage of North America is relatively sparse, but the interest has been high and I'm hoping for some contributions. Edit: For North America the most obvious source is Audubon's Birds of America, which is public domain and should provide a lot of coverage. This collection includes some beautiful plates.
• firmretention 20d ago
  This is such a cool idea and I want to build one. I wish I had this kind of creativity. I can do the hardware/software side, but great ideas elude me.
  • away0g 20d ago
    are you setting yourself up to record ideas as they happen?
• mungoman2 20d ago
  Now this is why I come here! Amazing thing, will replicate.
• jiwidi 20d ago
  Isnt this a fork* of https://x.com/WarnerTeddy/status/2060018688645115964 https://x.com/WarnerTeddy/status/2060018688645115964? https://github.com/Twarner491/AvianVisitors https://github.com/Twarner491/AvianVisitors https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ Or maybe im missing to see is the same author? It went viral a few months ago
  • tencentshill 20d ago
    This one seems to be more North European focused
    • jiwidi 20d ago
      Its awful close with no attribution or mention of the original project, which should be the minimum i feel like.
      • KaiserPro 20d ago
        true, but we are assuming that the author is aware of the other repo
        • deleted 20d ago
          [deleted]
      • arnemunthekaas 20d ago
        Original author here. Fair point, this project was one of my inspirations, but I chose to take a different approach. This uses public domain natural history art and builds on top of BirdNET-Go which is a popular way of self-hosting bird-detections. (This is really a BirdNET-Go companion, as it cannot run without). I've seen other similar projects pop up like https://github.com/veteranbv/inky-bird-frame https://github.com/veteranbv/inky-bird-frame and https://github.com/adamoberley/HABirdDashboard/tree/HABirdDashboard https://github.com/adamoberley/HABirdDashboard/tree/HABirdDa..., each with their own spin.
• fnands 20d ago
  Very cool! I wish E-ink displays were a bit more affordable. The 13 inch one is £229.50. Does anyone know why they are still so expensive, at least at large sizes?
  • eckelhesten 20d ago
    Patents and greed in a combination.
  • pjerem 20d ago
    You have to distinguish the fake color e-ink that are used in mass consumer products which are actually black&white e-ink plus an LCD layer and are expensive, and the real color e-ink where each micro capsule embeds 3 to 5 different inks of different colors. The latest are pretty complex devices, very slow to refresh (hence why they are not used in your e-reader) and also very expensive. But the rendering is way much nicer because it’s real ink that is used to render the colors.
    • blacklion 20d ago
      They are used in book readers. Amazon Kindle Colorsoft, for example. Or I have android phone with such screen (though, not latest generation). Rather opposite: I never seen consumer products with two-layer displays.
      • pjerem 19d ago
        Nope, that's my point, on your kindle, the screen is a Kaleido 3, which is a black&white+lcd layer: https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/1i8e26x/seriously_how_does_kaleido_3_screens_work/ https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/1i8e26x/seriously_how... Vs Spectra (the expensive screen): https://www.eink.com/upload/2023_11_14/3_20231114082849vy2as6Uon0.gif https://www.eink.com/upload/2023_11_14/3_20231114082849vy2as...
        • blacklion 19d ago
          I don't see LCD layer here. Passive color filters, B/W capsules (which reflects or doesn't reflect incoming light, depends on orientation), TFT (thin layer transistors, not LCD — liquid crystal display!) as control to orient capsules. Yes, it is not 4 color capsules as in Spectra, but where is LCD? LCD what is caught my attention (and surprise) in your commentary. But now I see difference, thank you.
• bronlund 20d ago
  Artig! :)
• clawforger_mthx 20d ago
  [dead]
• practicalsystem 20d ago
  oh I need to build this for my mom she would love it!
• misetech 20d ago
  I would like to build something which can do the exact opposite. Sounds from illustrations.
• nsbk 20d ago
  Very cool, but IMO not mentioning https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ as an inspiration is a very ugly move from the author
  • arnemunthekaas 20d ago
    Duly noted, I'll reference this, as well as other similar projects in the readme. Thanks for the feedback
    • nsbk 20d ago
      Fair! Also, I would love to build this myself as I'm moving out of the city and to the countryside soon. I'm based off Spain, so I'll be happy to contribute if I find missing Iberian and Mediterranean species, or if some cool feature idea comes up :)
      • arnemunthekaas 20d ago
        I'm actually currently working on implementing Iberian species, and added some yesterday. There's another user also contributing with some beautiful Spanish birds. Feel free to contribute if you have some cool visitors in your garden!
  • zubiaur 20d ago
    I thought it was the same person. That is how close this project is. Inspiration may be too soft of a word.
    • dang 20d ago
      Maybe for fairness we'll link to it from the toptext as well.
  • dang 20d ago
    Thanks! Discussed a few months ago: Avian Visitors - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343424 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343424 - May 2026 (20 comments)
• meteyor 20d ago
  I love this! I have a forest garden with lots of birds. I so want to try this project asap!
• lvl256 20d ago
  What would be cool is if you can put AI to identify individual birds. They all have different calls/voices, though largely indistinguishable to human ears. And you can name them and see when they come for a visit.
  • bt1a 20d ago
    Something like fpcalc for soundbytes? Neat
• scottndecker 20d ago
  Why isn't this a thing on Amazon I can buy?
• qarl 20d ago
  I love this new era of AI powered creativity. I expect we're just getting started.
• bix6 20d ago
  super stylin’
• dmitrij 20d ago
  We could also leave fake images aside, go outside and try to watch the birds ourselves. Maybe even let the camera inside, just looking with our own eyes. Real nature. No intermediate.
  • world2vec 20d ago
    I do recommend a decent pair of binoculars and the Merlin Bird ID app.
  • RobinL 20d ago
    > Half the point of this project is showing off some amazing public-domain natural-history illustrations. Over 800 cut-outs covering more than 400 species, every one taken from a real plate and hand-curated for this project (no art is AI-generated, though some has been retouched with AI).
  • stetrain 20d ago
    You can in fact both have an interesting bird-based art display in your home and also go outside and watch birds yourself. Neither precludes the other.
  • zabriel_goss 20d ago
    An app like this would be used as augmentation rather than simulation.
  • stronglikedan 20d ago
    Or both. Why limit yourself?
  • deleted 20d ago
    [deleted]
  • bottled_poe 19d ago
    The next logical step is to have speakers for the backyard to simulate the wildlife that no longer exists.
• gigantino 20d ago
  Now could you make one for urban noises? (e.g. traffic, trash truck, drunk guys at 3AM etc)
• poutrathor 20d ago
  My granny is almost deaf and I will test the idea for her, for she loves birds
  • lateatdesk 20d ago
    If you try it with her, I'd love to hear what she makes of it.
• thegpot 20d ago
  [flagged]
• reedlaw 20d ago
  Frigate, the IP camera security system, also does bird classification: https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/bird_classification/ https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/bird_classification...
  • originalvichy 20d ago
    Thanks for sharing. Didn’t know about this project. Have you used it yourself? I’ve only experimented with Scrypted for fun, but Frigate sounds like I could operate birdsong analysis without a separate BirdNET container.
    • reedlaw 19d ago
      I have Bird Classification enabled in the settings, but so far haven't seen any labelled (it's only been a few days). Similarly with Face Recognition, I've only seen false positives. It does reliably detect people though (300 tracked so far). I'll have to experiment with settings such as confidence score.
    • reedlaw 18d ago
      Turns out Frigate uses visual classification only. Hard to trigger when birds are so small, unless they fly right up to the camera perhaps.
• gabzofar 20d ago
  That's a blatant copy of https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/, please.
• joshstrange 20d ago
  e-ink is so much fun, especially when combined with ESP32 or BTLE boards. I currently have 4 around my house displaying book quotes that I've highlighted in KOReader and they bring me joy each time I see them. They are simple and do one thing very well. I just got and setup a BTLE e-ink driver the other day and according to my calculations it will last _years_ on a single charge (2000mAh) even with multiple refreshes per day (crazy compared to the Wifi ones). Year+ lifetime completely changes the calculus for where to put these IMHO. I'm considering designing a multiple-screen "art" piece to hang on my wall and playing around with various ideas (on both content and design). LLMs + 3D Printer + e-ink is my new favorite hobby.
  • buffet_overflow 20d ago
    Years on a wall mounted eink screen sounds super interesting. What are you using for the power delivery/battery side of that setup?
    • joshstrange 20d ago
      Here are the parts I bought, I'm still getting it all setup (I have my pictures displaying, working on designing the 3D printed case now, and testing it all) but according to OpenDisplay's calculator [0] I can expect 3.4 years if I refresh the screen once every 4 hours (and currently I'm doing closer to once a day to mimic my ESP32s which need deep sleep and once-a-day refresh to get even month/months of battery on a charge). Screen: 7.5" Monochrome eInk / ePaper Display with 800x480 Pixels (https://www.seeedstudio.com/7-5-Monochrome-ePaper-Display-with-800x480-Pixels-p-5788.html https://www.seeedstudio.com/7-5-Monochrome-ePaper-Display-wi...) BTLE board: XIAO ePaper Display Board(nRF52840) - EN05 (https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-ePaper-Display-Board-nRF52840-EN05-p-6756.html https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-ePaper-Display-Board-nRF528...) Battery: 3.7V 2000mAh - (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR9GH966 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR9GH966) Picture of it all assembled (no case yet): https://cs.joshstrange.com/zJFvGGPB https://cs.joshstrange.com/zJFvGGPB The image rendered to the screen is coming from a little service I wrote that renders a book quote it pulls from BookOrbit which syncs with KOReader (annotations, progress, etc). My plan is to set up one of these one each bookshelf/series rotating quotes I highlighted from the series. Here are 2 ESP32-based screens I have, the one on the left is a an all-in-one [1] and the one on the right I printed the case from the TRMNL DIY kit from SeeedStudio [2]: https://cs.joshstrange.com/knk4Ns2h https://cs.joshstrange.com/knk4Ns2h Right now only the BTLE one is running OpenDisplay (the other two are semi-managed by HomeAssistant ESPHome) and all the devices are in HA for controlling them, though the ESP32's all deep-sleep for saving battery so I can can't "push" stuff to them like I can the BTLE one. [0] https://opendisplay.org/index.html#battery https://opendisplay.org/index.html#battery [1] https://www.seeedstudio.com/reTerminal-E1001-p-6534.html https://www.seeedstudio.com/reTerminal-E1001-p-6534.html [2] https://www.seeedstudio.com/TRMNL-7-5-Inch-OG-DIY-Kit-p-6481.html https://www.seeedstudio.com/TRMNL-7-5-Inch-OG-DIY-Kit-p-6481...
• pnw 20d ago
  Cool project! I set up an e-ink frame with this recently as a gift and it's been so much fun creating themed collections. https://github.com/defl/hokku_epaper https://github.com/defl/hokku_epaper
• its_ajseven 20d ago
  Cool Project!! I like it
• Chuckles64 20d ago
  What a cool idea. I might have to give this one a try. I've got Raspberry's coming out the wazoo.
• _somu_ 20d ago
  So cool, I'm going to try building one myself!
• MiloLeo 20d ago
  This is such a cool project. My mom would absolutely love this if I made it as a gift. This may be a good project.
  • jonplackett 20d ago
    I was thinking the exact same thing!
  • tencentshill 20d ago
    Another dev offers it as a full product. OOS at the moment though. https://theodore.net/store/avian-visitors/ https://theodore.net/store/avian-visitors/
  • InexSquirrel 19d ago
    Was thinking this too. My parents are both avid birders, and I think it would make a fun addition to the house.
• abletonlive 20d ago
  incredible creativity and inspiring. thanks for sharing this !
• Belkins 20d ago
  [dead]
• ninefathom 20d ago
  While I love this idea generally, the scope of the use of generative AI for artwork is too vague for my comfort. The README.md mentions that "no art is AI-generated, though some has been retouched with AI." Superficially, that sounds mild. Some of the other closely-related projects, however, use different verbiage, or none at all. For those of us with ethical concerns around generative AI application to artwork, much more detail may be needed before we could decide if this was appropriate for us.
  • hirako2000 20d ago
    Could be for the montage. Is that unfair to say no AI generated the arts, but that AI put individual pieces together?
  • deleted 20d ago
    [deleted]
  • jrflo 20d ago
    What is the ethical concern in this use case?
  • arnemunthekaas 20d ago
    Author here: Fair, i could've been more explicit in my writing. Concretely: Every bird is a cutout from a real scanned 1800s plate (Gould, the von Wright brothers, Dresser...). The manifest (https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/blob/main/assets/artwork/classic/manifest.json https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/blob/main/assets/a...) links to each source, so you can compare them to the original scans. No bird has been prompt/diffusion generated, although I did use diffusion-based tools to remove birds from the perches (https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/tree/main/assets/artwork/classic/perches https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/tree/main/assets/a...). Nothing at runtime uses AI either, at least in the sense of LLMs or diffusion. The collage is Pillow and numpy, and detection is BirdNET, which is a classifier, not a generative model. However I have used LLMs for code-related work, and for writing scripts for programatically editing the images, like cutting, contrast and colour corrections.
• jarek83 20d ago
  Cool project! On a side note. How do people deal with all the ugly mess birds cause in such settings? I'd love to have such thing but seeing all the white stuff on glass door does not really feel fun to me overall.
  • originalvichy 20d ago
    What do you mean specifically? These birdsong analyzers are sensitive enough that they do not rely on setting up a feeder. It’s obviously dependent on where you live, but in the Nordics, living outside city centres is good enough for both background noise and birdsong from nearby trees/parks/forests. Privacy matters aside, setting a mic up on a balcony or window is enough. Another solution is feeding data from a cheap security camera with a mic through wifi. This way the camera can stay outside in different weather, it’s not super close to you actual living area and splitting audio from the RTSP stream should be relatively easy to be analyzed by BirdNET.
    • jarek83 20d ago
      Well I specifically meant having a bird feeder on a window or glass door for a chance to watch them live closely. That's why I put it as a side note ;) You gave me few ideas for the analyzer setup too - thanks!
      • originalvichy 20d ago
        Yeah that’s definitely going to be messy. Based on your region, there should hopefully be generic security cams that can even work with a batter and solar. That combined with wifi if it can reach your house can hopefully steer the blast zone way further :D There’s a few TP-Link cameras on discount around 100€ that have 2k res. Feels a lot easier this way rather than taping together a weatherproof box for various components like the Pi and a mic. So far I’ve only used a plug-powered one since I have a IP-rated socket outside and the TP-link cam has a magnet for my wall. Hope you find a nice solution!
  • eichin 20d ago
    Sounds like you've got birds crashing into the door? That's often something that can be improved (with stickers or hanging decorations) that make the glass more perceptible to the birds. (Another thing that sometimes helps is having bushes or shrubs, or even potted plants, in sight of the feeder - most small birds will use a "staging area" and fly somewhere nearby first, "check out the scene", and then fly to the feeder from there; it doesn't really control the activity, but it adds some options.)
• rogerb 20d ago
  Super fun project!
• thesurlydev 20d ago
  Very cool! I can't help wonder what this would look like for humans. Imagine, set one of these up at a party and it has the means to identify anyone on the invite list. When it hears the person it displays a photo, brief bio, and relationship status.
• hugoj0s3 20d ago
  intresting!
• mandycult 20d ago
  This is the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time :')
• pokerpatioteam 20d ago
  cool project!
• sailfast 20d ago
  I just happen to have an extra Pi and an e-ink display sitting around and I LOVE this idea. Going to try it on my screened in porch - we typically get 10-20 Merlin detections on a decent day so this could be fun!
• rydersel 20d ago
  [dead]
• physhster 20d ago
  All I'd get is pigeons and seagulls...
• hodder 20d ago
  Amazing. Best post I've seen on HN in ages.
• theturtletalks 20d ago
  So many bird projects recently and I think it’s all thanks to this project[0] It seems IP over Avian Carriers is finally within reach! 0. https://github.com/tphakala/birdnet-go https://github.com/tphakala/birdnet-go
  • bithammerthunde 20d ago
    Link missing?
    • radiorental 20d ago
      Complete guess but I wonder if it's the Merlin project? https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/merlin/ https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/merlin/
    • shellfishgene 20d ago
      Probably BirdNet, but Google also has an equivalent model now called Perch. https://birdnet.cornell.edu/ https://birdnet.cornell.edu/
• divbzero 20d ago
  Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
• amelius 20d ago
  What is the energy label of this frame?
  • andai 20d ago
    Chernobyl.
• deleted 20d ago
  [deleted]
• mrbombastic 20d ago
  this is so cool :) thinking about some remixes already with maritime traffic and tides
• agcat 20d ago
  Most whimsical application of local ai so far
• divbzero 20d ago
  The underlying classifier, BirdNET, is a traditional neural network and not an LLM: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2021.101236 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2021.101236
  • tuvix 20d ago
    Are there any LLMs being widely used for audio classification? I know VLMs are being used a lot in image stuff. It always seems kind of silly to me to throw everything at an LLM. I know they’re huge and can automatically handle a huge number of tasks but something in me finds it wasteful when we could be creating easily trainable, cheap to run bespoke models for a lot of stuff
    • benob 20d ago
      https://github.com/earthspecies/NatureLM-audio https://github.com/earthspecies/NatureLM-audio
      • bix6 20d ago
        More info please. Can I add this into birdnet go for more species detection?
    • lambda 20d ago
      There are LLMs that support audio input, similar to those with vision support. From my testing of open weights LLMs with audio support, they basically are only trained to recognize audio as an alternative to text input, they treat audio as basically equivalent to a transcript, and can't recognize or distinguish things like music, accents, background sounds, etc. So they're only really good for transcribing or summarizing or using audio input in place of text input for prompts, but not anything that requires distinguishing any information about the audio that would not be present in a transcript. It can be tempting to try to use an LLM for a variety of tasks; kind of the whole thing about an LLM is that you don't have to do a separate complex training run for every task, but can just provide instructions in natural language. But it only works as far as what the training data covers, if the training basically always treated audio and a text transcript as equivalent, the model has nothing causing it to learn other relevant features of the audio. If there's enough bird call identification in the training data of an LLM, it might be able to do that, but I think multimodal training data tends to be much more limited than the text training corpus
• thomasfl 20d ago
  As a fellow Norwegian I must say that this is pure art by the developer Arne Munthe-Kaas.
• CobrastanJorji 20d ago
  I love it.
• neenjdkddi 20d ago
  [dead]
• albertgoeswoof 20d ago
  I built one of these that shows the hacker news front page, nyt front page, my most listened to album of the last 7 days etc. Refreshes every hour Battery lasts a few months Esp32 and a colour eink panel, same as this one I think
  • the_real_cher 20d ago
    That sounds cool! Where did you get your color e-ink panel?
    • albertgoeswoof 20d ago
      I got https://www.waveshare.com/13.3inch-e-paper-hat-plus-e.htm https://www.waveshare.com/13.3inch-e-paper-hat-plus-e.htm from Amazon, about 300 gbp
      • the_real_cher 19d ago
        Thats cool thanks!
• zkmon 20d ago
  Finally, we solved the problem of converting bird sounds into their pictures without involving human cognition. The great problem and the need had to wait for the great, ultra expensive, data-center-driven AI technology to appear on the horizon. AI is such a good technology that continue to solve many such great problems that humans desperately needed for their survival and progress. All at the a minimal cost of some effect on the climate, which may only slightly quicken the human extinction. Puzzlingly, no animal species requires AI, which is a mystery that need to be solved by AI.
  • efavdb 20d ago
    Do you not like AI?
    • zkmon 20d ago
      Well, it's not a fruit or food that I can eat. It's not a shelter, It's not a fellow human or a pet. So, hard to say if I like it.
      • deleted 20d ago
        [deleted]
  • iambenm 20d ago
    Hmm. The project uses BirdNET-Go, which does inference locally on a Raspberry Pi. Then it looks up the species against a set of already existing illustrations. So in this case it seems like the "ultra expensive, data-center-driven AI" is not really involved in the core loop of this project.
    • zkmon 20d ago
      The local inference is a product that came out of the data-center-driven AI.
      • tossandthrow 20d ago
• jadbox 20d ago
  This is the coolest thing on HN that I've seen in a minute. The whole thing is a perfect blend of ideas with the end result of something that feels... magical. Honestly this is the highest inspiration to me as a builder as I just want to create magical experiences, even if they are just small oddities.
  • pelican0 20d ago
    > This is the coolest thing on HN that I've seen in a minute. Off-topic, but what is up with the increased use of the phrase "in a minute", presumably to mean "in a long time", lately? I've only started encountering it in the past year. Did it get popularized by some celebrity, tv show, influencers, etc?
    • seanwessmith 20d ago
      seems like you know what you're talking about 5k% increase starting in July this year https://trends.google.com/explore?q=I%27ve%20seen%20in%20a%20minute&date=today%205-y&geo=US https://trends.google.com/explore?q=I%27ve%20seen%20in%20a%2...
      • bezmi 20d ago
        I think the trend is probably misleading. A popular youtuber may have released a video in August with a title containing "in a minute".
    • scheme271 20d ago
      It's been around in slang for a few years with a few variants, e.g. "I haven't seen her in a hot minute." I think it's just filtered into wider cultural vernacular.
      • mrbombastic 19d ago
        people have been saying "it's been a minute" to mean a long time since at least the 90s in NY
• lloydatkinson 20d ago
  This is amazing. I want to build this. Curious about the authors “full garden” link, surely he doesn’t get that many birds in such a small space of time in his garden, unless he lives next to a park I suppose?
• torcete 20d ago
  People are so creative.
• zero0529 20d ago
  I was thinking about building this for a while and now i don't have too, insane. Thanks!
• TomJansen 20d ago
  This project is super cool! But the price of the e-ink board is quite steep
• andatki 20d ago
  Bryce Shivers and Lisa Eversman would definitely have this in their boutique. Put a Bird on It!
• bilsbie 20d ago
  This could totally be a commercial product. I picture it being sold with a bird feeder. Maybe it uses a camera on the feeder. Then have the screen look like a biologists notebook where he sketches the bird and writes a few notes about the time and its behavior.
  • herrherrmann 19d ago
    A similar product would be Birdbuddy (a birdfeeder with a camera and logging functionality), albeit very commercial and closed-source.
• manuelisimo 20d ago
  I am buying an e-ink display just to try this!
• forcemajeure 19d ago
  This is amazing, well done! It would be a great travel piece
• smnplk 20d ago
  Needs to also have an alarm clock waking you with this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4J1zyrW_VQ&list=RD-4J1zyrW_VQ&start_radio=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4J1zyrW_VQ&list=RD-4J1zyrW_... :)
• thuruv 20d ago
  This is an excellent execution and refreshing to see the thought process behind it. Kudos. the ideas such as these, gonna keep us swim sane and specifically extending far beyond the 9-5 is no longer sideProject category but refreshingly needed one.
• catapart 20d ago
  Awesome! It's really cool that it uses public domain images as the inspiration, too. And even cooler that you link to the places where you got those public domain images.
• worklifepanda 20d ago
  this is very creative, really cool idea!
• simonjgreen 20d ago
  I've been leveraging Birdnet-2.4 as well, but also ultrasonic-pass and activity-v1 to do broader detection with an ecological targeted microphone. This means I can capture not just bird sounds but also bats and some insects, and acoustic events such as jets and cars. Applying heterodyne transformations to the bat recordings makes them audible which is fascinating, especially when you catch them in a feeding frenzy. Similar intent with an indoor display, although nowhere near as beautiful as OPs eink display here. I'm more aiming for a real-time ticker, but this design is wonderful. I'm quite inspired by it! I've been working on this in the background for a few months, if anyone is interested repo with screenshots is here: https://github.com/simonjgreen/OpenObservatory https://github.com/simonjgreen/OpenObservatory
  • swaraj 20d ago
    >I've been leveraging Birdnet-2.4 as well, I love HN
    • eointierney 20d ago
      Yep, when it's humans nerding it's awesome
  • blacklion 20d ago
    Do you use AudioMoth embedded mic?
    • simonjgreen 19d ago
      That’s the one, in their outdoor casing
• base698 20d ago
  You should partner with Cornell Ornithology.
• westoque 20d ago
  ok. a similar idea, you should put a camera outside your door and do the same for passing dogs.
  • ptoo 20d ago
    [flagged]
    • cluckindan 20d ago
      German engineering at its finest.
    • dang 19d ago
      Please don't do this here.
• zzato 20d ago
  coolest implementation of ai application case that i ve seens last months
• yiro13 19d ago
  Impressive, reminds me of this project https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ I guess the author was inspired from there
• chris_armstrong 19d ago
  breaking this by putting it in earshot of a lyrebird
• staub 19d ago
  Any easy way to get started on your own version of this without needing a mic would be to pull birds seen nearby using the eBird API and pairing scientific names. Won't be as accurate as a backyard mic, but will give you a direction to start. Also if you have old e-ink device laying around, you can likely setup BYOD with TRMNL (or just buy one https://trmnl.com/ https://trmnl.com/) and send the bird images as a private plugin
  • throooooo 19d ago
    The e-ink screens linked by OP are much more interesting from a color reproduction standpoint. TRMNL devices are either grayscale or 2 colors.
• jamieklausen998 19d ago
  [flagged]
• lzr_jasper 19d ago
  [flagged]
• water-drummer 19d ago
  Reminds me of Arthur's jounal
• brenainn 19d ago
  I would love to build one as a gift but would need to get it working for Australian birds.
  • apexalpha 19d ago
    Just release some imported European birds. What could go wrong?
• redbell 19d ago
  That's indeed a cool project and it's this kind of stuff that makes HN a unique corner in this digital world. I can classify this project with [1](Ranked #3 as the most upvoted Show HN of all time), [2](#4) and [3](#6) as non pure-software products that happen to also integrates hardware as well. The only thing I wish to be added is a short video showing the actual frame in action to express motion and sound so I can better feel it. While the provided image (hero.jpg) gives me a sense of the product, I just can't smell it yet. I visited https://fugleramme.arnegiacomo.dev/ https://fugleramme.arnegiacomo.dev/ hoping for a live feed but it seems just a static image. Kudos for the author and I hope we can see the next iteration! _______________ 1. I made an open-source laptop from scratch (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42797260 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42797260) 2. I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968606) 3. A retro video game console I've been working on in my free time (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19393279 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19393279)
• kris-memoket 19d ago
  Really interesting!! Awesome work
• fpebble41586 19d ago
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• drifts0785 19d ago
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• cedar465 19d ago
  [flagged]
• learner_yearner 19d ago
  Wow! Every human mind is wonderful in its own way. It can come up with ideas that other minds can't even comprehend.
• Lavanic 19d ago
  cool proj
• taysdafu 19d ago
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• mariusandra 19d ago
  This is a very cool project! When I first heard of it (through a community member in discord), I wanted to see if I could replicate it on FrameOS (my software for running anything on an e-ink panel), and sure enough, I got quite close: https://scenes.frameos.net/s/bird-field-journal https://scenes.frameos.net/s/bird-field-journal This is obviously nowhere as complicated as OP's project, but I thought I'd just share that your project inspired me to build something similar too.
• drum998 19d ago
  Awesome! I'm in the middle of setting up a birdnet system for audio recognition, and this is the puzzle piece my project needs!
• DylanMerigaud 19d ago
  Nice launch, good luck out there.
• gadders 19d ago
  I'd buy this if I could.
• techsystems 19d ago
  Seems like a nice adjacent project to the magic mirror!
• asdojasdosadsa 19d ago
  This is amazing project, thanks for sharing
• metchio 19d ago
  this is amazing. really awesome
• rtvn83 19d ago
  This is amazing. I wonder if this could be connected to an LLM and render images of birds differently each time?
• sigvef 19d ago
  Came across the Samsung The Frame variant last month too! https://github.com/simenf/birdframe https://github.com/simenf/birdframe
• simenf 19d ago
  Cool project! For those of you that have a Samsung frame tv and no spare e ink screens: Inspired by AvianVisitors [1] I made a similar project [2] with an android app for bird detection using Perch, and then displays the birds detected during the last 24 hours with nice art on a samsung frame tv in "art mode". If you dont want to repurpose an old android device, my app also supports bird detections from birdnet-go and birdweather. It should be plug and play with this project. Have a look at [1] https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/ [2] https://github.com/simenf/birdframe https://github.com/simenf/birdframe
• edwardbonnett 19d ago
  what's the most unusual bird it's picked up so far?
• devenquan 19d ago
  [flagged]
• bilaly 19d ago
  I am working on a voice-chat program and I implemented RNNoise this week. Most of the noise cancellation tools filter for just human voice. so bird noises that you want, may be gone when you are trying to delete the wind noise or something. And without any noise cancellation, It can be very hard to people who are living next to road or very noisy place.
• ryzvonusef 19d ago
  a bit of a noob in these field, so apologies for the question, but why bird.net and not the more comprehensive cornell merlin dataset?
• KirkDiamond 19d ago
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• jaackevans_ 19d ago
  damn this is one of best things I've seen in a while
• pauleibye 19d ago
  I think this is a cool idea but I would never want ai generated art on my wall.
  • coro_1 19d ago
    Depends on the feel of the space you're working with, for me. A 8 x 10 bird sketch generator could work.
  • arnemunthekaas 19d ago
    Author here: it's not AI-generated. All art is public domain and made by real people. This project doesn't run generative AI models. See https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/blob/main/assets/artwork/classic/ATTRIBUTION.md https://github.com/arnegiacomo/fugleramme/blob/main/assets/a... for all the sources
• rlake53337 19d ago
  [flagged]
• cakeface 19d ago
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• sma3in 19d ago
  well this is a AI put to great use! love it
• TheGoodBarn 19d ago
  This is insane. Going to google/search and stuff when I get home, but for my current living space it would be awesome if I could get a wireless mic to place outside and have this run on my Beelink SER8, and then over local network sync to my Apple TV and display the images kinda like a screensaver?
  • deleted 19d ago
    [deleted]
• yipinwong 19d ago
  Here is another "I love it" comment. Genuinely giving the OP props
• vertiwind 19d ago
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• jacksun788 18d ago
  Cool project! Thanks
• dirkc 18d ago
  I love an e-ink display project! The one thing that always trips me up in projects like this is power delivery in a way that I'm happy with. I always end up having a USB cable looking awkward somewhere or being limited in where I put my project
• sahn44 18d ago
  I'm also in the BirdTech scene. I detect birds and automatically spray them with a sprinkler to keep away from our pool area. code: https://github.com/mattsahn/bird-away https://github.com/mattsahn/bird-away writeup: https://mattsahn.github.io/bird-away-blog/ https://mattsahn.github.io/bird-away-blog/
  • nozzlegear 18d ago
    Ha, I've thought about doing something like this but to keep my cats off the countertops in the kitchen!
• morrow33 18d ago
  [flagged]
• sandworm101 18d ago
  A neighbour of mine has five chickens... well HAD fier chickens. A hawk did away with #5 and damaged two more.. I wonder what this display would make of that series of frantic bird calls.
• SirHackalot 18d ago
  Very cool idea, but I wanna be the one drawing. Why would I outsource the fun part to the AI? Classification is useful, but the paintings are the fun part…
• Wolfmans55 18d ago
  I love these super creative software + hardware project ideas you don’t see too much of anymore!
• PigeonD 18d ago
  Love this so much, cant wait to try
• kindamanic 17d ago
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• adityamishra241 17d ago
  [flagged]
• techsystems 16d ago
  A redditor adapted this idea for the Samsung Frame https://old.reddit.com/r/TheFrame/comments/1wkg3fq/listen_for_birds_and_draw_them_on_your_tv https://old.reddit.com/r/TheFrame/comments/1wkg3fq/listen_fo...
• mittsquinter 16d ago
  Would it be possible to tap the bird images and play audio? Their call, that is. It would be a great way to reinforce sight and sound.
• samarkundal 15d ago
  This is pretty cool and it's pure art.
• kdiehl 15d ago
  I love this on many levels. creativity, 1800 art, community contribution on art assets! Made my day!
• hoihoihoi 14d ago
  Such a lovely project!
• awfm9 14d ago
  Beautiful work. That's the kind of creativity AI will not replace any time soon.
• lwi00 14d ago
  cutest thing ever
• peaknk 14d ago
  I am going to give this a try on my jail-broken kindle, wish me luck.