Twarner491AvianVisitors
A live bird collage from your window.
See it running at bird.onethreenine.net.
BOM
| Qty | Description | Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raspberry Pi (4B / 5 / Zero 2W) | ~$35-80 | Raspberry Pi |
| 1 | Micro SD Card (≥32 GB) | ~$10 | Amazon |
| 1 | USB lavalier microphone | $16.95 | Amazon |
| 1 | Pi power supply | ~$10 | - |
Optional: a Gemini API key to restyle illustrations, an eBird API key to filter species by region.
1. Flash the SD card
Use Raspberry Pi Imager. Pick Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit). In the customisation dialog set:
- Username
- WiFi SSID + password
- Hostname:
birdnet - Enable SSH with password auth
Plug the USB mic into the Pi. Place the capsule in a window or mount it outside. Boot.
2. Run the installer
ssh <your-username>@birdnet.local
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Twarner491/AvianVisitors/avian-visitors/newinstaller.sh | bash
Clones this fork, installs BirdNET-Pi, symlinks the AvianVisitors overlay into the Caddy web root. Takes 20-40 minutes. Reboots when done.
Collage: http://birdnet.local/. Stock BirdNET-Pi UI: http://birdnet.local/index.php (also linked from the menu drawer).
3. (Optional) Restyle the illustrations
The repo ships with 450 bundled illustrations. To restyle or add region-specific species:
export GEMINI_API_KEY='your-key'
# Re-render every species in BirdNET-Pi's model:
python3 ~/BirdNET-Pi/avian/scripts/pregen.py --labels ~/BirdNET-Pi/model/labels.txt --force
# Or filter to species observed in your eBird region:
export EBIRD_API_KEY='your-key'
python3 ~/BirdNET-Pi/avian/scripts/pregen.py \
--labels ~/BirdNET-Pi/model/labels.txt \
--ebird-region US-CA
Style lives in avian/scripts/prompt.template.md. Edit, re-run with --force.
4. (Optional) Forward off your LAN
See avian/forwarding/ for three independent recipes:
- Cloudflare Tunnel for a public HTTPS URL.
- Home Assistant REST sensor that exposes the latest detection.
- MQTT bridge that publishes every new detection.
If anyone other than you can reach the Pi at the network layer — a shared apartment LAN, dorm wifi, an open hotspot, a forwarded port — read SECURITY.md first. The default install assumes a trusted home network; the admin overlay's settings/system/logs panels need a Caddy basic_auth gate before they're safe outside that.
Repo layout
avian/ # everything we add to BirdNET-Pi
├── frontend/ # static HTML/JS/CSS for the collage
├── assets/ # 450 bundled illustrations + cutouts + masks
├── api/ # PHP shims served by BirdNET-Pi's PHP-FPM
├── scripts/ # pregen.py + editable prompt template
└── forwarding/ # optional HA / MQTT / Cloudflare configs
Everything outside avian/ is upstream BirdNET-Pi.
License
CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0, inherited from BirdNET-Pi. Non-commercial use only. See the BirdNET-Pi README for full Cornell attribution.