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When you go out to make bird recordings, you become keenly aware of all kinds of noise you never noticed before. If you live in or near a city, you’ll find no shortage of noise sources.

Have you ever wanted to know what birds you hear at home? You can use BirdNET-Pi on your Raspberry Pi with a small microphone to record and ID birds 24/7. I’ve been curious about this project for a while and decided to take the plunge.

Many people have a “spark bird” that piques their interest in birds. This could be the ducks you fed at the pond, a cool bird that visited your yard, or anything that made you stop and think. Birdwatching or ’birding’ is a welcoming hobby for people of all ages.

I spent my first nine years as a hobby photographer with my original Canon camera setup, a Rebel T5i and EF 400mm lens. Earlier this year I upgraded my equipment to Canon’s mirrorless lineup and RF lens line. I‘m not a spec expert, but I’ll share why I selected each piece and what I appreciate.

I’ve used my existing microphone setup with a dedicated recorder since I picked up the equipment. While taking an online course on How to Record Bird Sounds, one of the setups they showed in the video utilized an external microphone connected to an iPhone running Merlin.