I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system

	I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system(jasontucker.blog)
	614 points by speckx 10 days ago \| 167 comments
	tl;dr: The author repurposed existing RTSP-enabled security cameras by feeding their audio streams into BirdNet-Go, a self-hosted Docker app that uses local AI models (BirdNET 2.4 and Google Perch v2) to identify birds, bats, and frogs in real time. The setup supports Home Assistant/MQTT integration, Discord alerts, novelty tracking, and BirdWeather data sharing—no cloud required. Over 12 months it logged 418,726 detections across 271 species (and once flagged a neighbor's fart).
	HN Discussion: ↑Others have successfully replicated the same BirdNet-Go setup with their own cameras •Shares alternative birding tools and apps like Merlin Bird ID that got them into the hobby ~Encountered hardware limitations (mic quality, sampling rates, no RTSP) requiring alternative setups ↓Concern about privacy implications of always-on networked audio sensors everywhere ↑Offers technical improvements and variations like portable builds or display fixes