Wednesday 30 April 2014

BirdBoxPiCam2014: for the love of Graphs

As my RaspberryPi powered bird box collects data, I feel obliged to harvest it, compile it, try to make sense of it, and present it.


But sometimes data can raise more questions than it answers.


Something a little strange happened on Monday, but we were not at home to witness it.

Saturday 26 April 2014

BirdBoxPiCam2014: Factors affecting image quality


The RaspberryPi camera (RaspiCam) is capable of high definition photos and video.


But there are a number of factors which influence the quality of the images that I can view and capture using my system.


This post describes some of the photographic challenges.

Wednesday 23 April 2014

BirdBoxPiCam2014: Chicks in the nest

Things are really kicking off now, as chicks have started to hatch in the great tit nest box.


Dad brings in most of the food, as mum still has the job of keeping chicks and remaining eggs warm.


This is generally seen as the final, and most interesting stage of the process.

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Our Emperor Moths Emerge

A couple of years ago, Lady B was given a few Emperor Moth eggs which she put into a tupperware container.


Once hatched, she fed the caterpillars each day, and safety stored the pupae away in the garage over winter.


We have just been through this cycle once again, and this week the moths started to emerge from their cocoons.

Sunday 13 April 2014

BirdBoxPiCam2014: Streaming video at 30fps

Now that the female has moved on from egg-laying-mode to incubation-mode, I've switched off motion detection in favour of live streaming.


It was more of a struggle than I'd expected to get streaming working, but I can now view the action live (well, live-ish if you ignore the 3 second delay) on one or more clients running VLC.


Video can be recorded on the server (i.e. the Raspberry Pi) or on a client.

Thursday 10 April 2014

BirdBoxPiCam2014: Eggs in the nest

On Monday the female left the nest, and rather carelessly, she didn't bother to cover the eggs.


Since then the female has started the incubation stage, and we have been able to get a better look at the clutch.


This short post is just a progress report.

Sunday 6 April 2014

SE-10 Passive InfraRed sensor (PIR) & the RaspberryPi

The SE-10 is a commonly available PIR sensor produced by Hanse Electronics.


Having bought one of these from HobbyTronics, I tried to use it on a Raspberry Pi, but ran into problems.


A search of the net just reveals confusing and often contradictory information, so I did some investigation of my own.

Saturday 5 April 2014

BirdBoxPiCam2014: The Great Tit Plan

Things seem to be progressing in this bird box, and the female has spent every night since Sunday sitting on the nest.


Both adults stay away from the nest for most of the day, with the occasional visit to add more dog hair and check all is OK.


So whats going on?