I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system • Hacker News Board

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#171

Post by dktbs » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 3:09 PM UTC

cromka wrote: post #145

I just wonder, wouldn't ornithologists be interested in a system in where people voluntarily upload bird photos from their camera, helping them with bird spitting? They do that by hand already, after all. Think something like FlightRadar and crowd-sourced ADB-S info?

The article mentions https://app.birdweather.com/ which appears to be exactly that.

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#172

Post by kjs3 » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 3:36 PM UTC

sahn44 wrote: post #148

This is a lot more wholesome than my project. I detect birds and automatically spray them with a sprinkler to keep away from pool area. code: https://github.com/mattsahn/bird-away Writeup: https://mattsahn.github.io/bird-away-blog/

Reminds me of the "Militarizing Your Backyard with Python: Computer Vision and the Squirrel Hordes" talk from 14 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPgqfnKG_T4&t=2s

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#173

Post by a3w » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 3:42 PM UTC

I always thought "US now has millions of flock cameras" to mean birdwatching cameras, how nice. Then I learned a month ago about the Orwellian surveillance regime they have in place, WTF, land of the "free", and neither free to move around without that being televised and no free healthcare? Even continental China give you "free from want" instead of freedom of speech, that seems to be an acceptable path for humanity more and more to me.

Even in EU, we barely give freedom of speech to enemies of the state. (See https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/eu-sanktionen-putin-prop... , no right to a trial before your rights of travel being revoked. Recently invoked in one case that made the legal civil liberty news.)

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#174

Post by f_devd » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC

a3w wrote: post #173

I always thought "US now has millions of flock cameras" to mean birdwatching cameras, how nice. Then I learned a month ago about the Orwellian surveillance regime they have in place, WTF, land of the "free", and neither free to move around without that being televised and no free healthcare? Even continental China give you "free from want" instead of freedom of speech, that seems to be an acceptable path for humanity…

> no right to a trial before your rights of travel being revoked

I'm not sure what exactly this refers to (because of the paywall), but revoking right of travel before trial is fairly common, it the US it would be classified as detained without bail. And happens when there is a reasonable concern for flight risk before trial as seen by the judge.

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#175

Post by sahn44 » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

atestu wrote: post #158

sahn44 wrote: post #148

This is a lot more wholesome than my project. I detect birds and automatically spray them with a sprinkler to keep away from pool area. code: https://github.com/mattsahn/bird-away Writeup: https://mattsahn.github.io/bird-away-blog/

I've been meaning the same thing to stop deer from eating from my garden... would you do anything differently if you were to do it again?

I've been pleasantly surprised how well it has worked and how robust it is. It's installed at my parent's house and I am many states away so I was paranoid about making it resilient since i'm usually not there and have to fly to get there. So, i really tried to think of everything I could. I thought it might overheat the first afternoon or have other problems, but it's been running for months now uninterupted. Sometimes the OpenRouter credits run out and it stops catching birds , but it still runs normally and after I re-up the credits, it continues working normally. No need to restart even.

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#176

Post by ompogUe » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 4:20 PM UTC

world2vec wrote: post #154

sahn44 wrote: post #148

This is a lot more wholesome than my project. I detect birds and automatically spray them with a sprinkler to keep away from pool area. code: https://github.com/mattsahn/bird-away Writeup: https://mattsahn.github.io/bird-away-blog/

My first ever "e2e" ML project during early covid quarantine was a crude vision model to detect pigeons on my balcony (and pigeons only) and play a loud random sound. It almost worked sometimes.

Did a similar thing where I had a neighbor who raised dobermans and rottweilers - it's a bit difficult to code with 8 or 9 large dogs barking in the yard outside your window.

Set up an amp and speakers that would pump out ultrasonic noise when it heard the barking, sending them running to the other side of their house.

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#177

Post by sahn44 » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

peddling-brink wrote: post #156

lukan wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you can combine it? Identify what the bird was you sprayed away ..

And measure reaction time, classify across species.

I have a few learnings.

Pigeons scram instantly. 7-bird takeout: https://pub-27e5170d67ab43d8a22019a94eac1572.r2.dev/events/2...

Ducks don't care: https://pub-27e5170d67ab43d8a22019a94eac1572.r2.dev/events/2...

Whatever these are, they just walk away: https://pub-27e5170d67ab43d8a22019a94eac1572.r2.dev/events/2...

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#178

Post by sahn44 » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

artemis_aep wrote: post #169

sahn44 wrote: post #148

This is a lot more wholesome than my project. I detect birds and automatically spray them with a sprinkler to keep away from pool area. code: https://github.com/mattsahn/bird-away Writeup: https://mattsahn.github.io/bird-away-blog/

I am deeply moved by your anti-bird crusade xD

I'm glad it's not just me.

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#179

Post by Vishal_Max » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

You can expand it to animal identification system , it would be really cool to see that.

Re: I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

#180

Post by lukan » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

world2vec wrote: post #154

sahn44 wrote: post #148

This is a lot more wholesome than my project. I detect birds and automatically spray them with a sprinkler to keep away from pool area. code: https://github.com/mattsahn/bird-away Writeup: https://mattsahn.github.io/bird-away-blog/

My first ever "e2e" ML project during early covid quarantine was a crude vision model to detect pigeons on my balcony (and pigeons only) and play a loud random sound. It almost worked sometimes.

"It almost worked sometimes."

I will borrow that.