Ryan McClarence
banner
donnybirder.bsky.social
Ryan McClarence
@donnybirder.bsky.social
Birder.
Phonescoper.
Prone to the occasional twitch.

Avid patcher of Norton Common, 9 times out of 10, it's rubbish, but it's that 1 that keeps me going. tinyurl.com/NortonCommonBirds

Birdweather PUC #9253. https://app.birdweather.com/stations/9253
You can get to them on mobile, but it seems to be more difficult than it needs to be!
January 5, 2025 at 11:07 AM
I had P at the lowest on 0.5. Currently, I'm upped it to 1.5, but any higher, and it doesn't pick any Owls up. I've got C at 63, and I think it's the higher confidence rather than a higher probability that is giving me the improvement.
December 30, 2024 at 10:09 PM
The vast majority of my PUC detections are coming from the local Robin. I'm considering turning off detections for Robin to see if that further reduces the errors. However, over the past few days, I've started to up probability and confidence and have already noticed an improvement.
December 30, 2024 at 7:36 PM
That may come in a future update, but for now, this is the best way to deal with the definate not happening species. bsky.app/profile/donn...
One feature I would really like, is to set confidence levels to individual species.
Another tip to new PUC users. If you have lowered your probability down to 0.1%, you will get a couple of species suggested that are extremely unlikely for your location. Click on detections of that species, then probability, then change the Birdnet default to no longer show them. #BWPUC
December 21, 2024 at 12:02 PM
As you say, Steve, it's a new product, and with what it's doing, it's bound to get things wrong. Some owners just set it and leave it, but I try to keep my PUC as accurate as possible and actively check and delete errors every day, and for my own personal records, I think the PUC is brilliant
December 21, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Absolutely, it will. The AI will always be learning and improving. I've only had my PUC a few weeks, but it's made checking a nights Nocmig so much easier and faster. Any records that seem dodgy, I check, and if they're wrong, just delete them.
December 20, 2024 at 9:07 PM
I've got a PUC. It's far from perfect, and it throws out plenty of weird suggestions, but it does get plenty correct too. I've listened to quite a few of the other PUCs recordings. One had Great Bittern, and I'm sure it was somebody snoring 😆
December 20, 2024 at 8:51 PM
Where have you seen about data being fed into eBird? I understood the only use of eBird is to set the probability of the species, so it's coming from rather than going to?
I would also like to think anything put on eBird from a PUC owner should be backed up with a recording?
December 20, 2024 at 8:41 PM
Happy to help Steve. Mine took about an 1hr 30 to upload 2500 detections. There's no prior warning the PUC shuts down after uploading, the more tips we share between us the better.
Talking of detections, this is pretty cool. Just filter to find your PUC.
app.birdweather.com/detections/ #BWPUC
December 20, 2024 at 12:42 PM
I am still doing ok with 0.1% P and 44% C. I like the lower P, so it will show anything and at least give me the chance to double-check it. Anything nearly impossible, I hide detections, like I've done with Crested tit. It's the local Starlings though, that are causing me the most mis IDs!
December 19, 2024 at 1:57 PM
Portable Universe Codec.
www.birdweather.com

It's a listening device, John, I've got it running in my garden 24/7, and it records bird calls and song and IDs them. Some are incorrect but you can easily listen to and delete them. It's so much easier than using a recorder and mic for nocmig.
BirdWeather - a living library of bird vocalizations.
Join a growing community of citizen scientists with PUC, our AI powered bioacoustics platform.
www.birdweather.com
December 19, 2024 at 1:43 PM
If the PUC is powered but offline, it will still detect. When you get it back online, it will upload all detections, but once it's finished, the PUC will shutdown, so it will need to be powered on again, which I didn't find out until this morning so have missed a full nights recording! #BWPUC (2/2)
December 19, 2024 at 10:17 AM
I haven't, I'm happy with the results I'm getting now without one, but it would be interesting to see if one would help.
December 12, 2024 at 6:55 PM
They were something I had considered, but I ended up making a housing for the PUC instead, which seems to be keeping any wind or rain from directly hitting it.
I'm tempted to try and make some form of parabolic dish to add to the front of it to try and help it collect as much sound as possible.
December 12, 2024 at 6:22 PM