Tremendously Enjoying
While certainly not 100% accurate all of the time, I’ve found my PUC to be relatively comparable to Merlin when I’ve run the two apps at the same time. As a matter of fact, there’ve been several instances where Merlin misidentified a bird song that the PUC either accurately reported or didn’t identify at all. And, I appreciate the scoring & probabilities associated with the songs/calls identified especially if I don’t get a visual on the bird(s) in question. I consider this relatively new technology and am assuming as time passes it will improve (similar to Merlin, which everyone used to grumble about). I went out to Cornell Labs bioacoustical website to read about the technology (& several of the papers associated with the BirdNet/BirdWeather bioacoustics) and found them helpful in better understanding the results presented in the BirdWeather app, the datasets they rely upon to identify birds (Xeno/Canto, etc) and the difficulties associated with identifying birds by sound. It gave me a better appreciation for the complexities involved in bio-acoustical analysis of sounds & the data I was seeing (& not seeing) on the BirdWeather app.
As for the PUC itself, I found it relatively user friendly & rather intuitive (plus it helped to read the “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the BirdWeather website). As a matter of fact, I’m impressed enough with this whole setup that I’ve already ordered another PUC…this time the BAT edition. I’m anticipating that the BAT PUC will provide a whole new realm of wonders present in our night skies - really, I think of these devices as exciting technology, perhaps still in its infancy, but certainly a worthwhile investment.
As for the PUC itself, I found it relatively user friendly & rather intuitive (plus it helped to read the “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the BirdWeather website). As a matter of fact, I’m impressed enough with this whole setup that I’ve already ordered another PUC…this time the BAT edition. I’m anticipating that the BAT PUC will provide a whole new realm of wonders present in our night skies - really, I think of these devices as exciting technology, perhaps still in its infancy, but certainly a worthwhile investment.
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Isn’t working with iPads
Set up initially on one iPhone, used the ID to access from another phone ok, but the process of entering an ID isn’t working on our iPads.
Car = Duck
The very first bird my PUC claimed to identify was a Mallard Duck. That’s unlikely, but not impossible. There’s a pond not far from my house with ducks, but they don’t usually leave the park where the pond is. When I listened to the recording, there was no bird. Just a car driving by. That’s a huge miss. There also doesn’t seem to be a way to tell the device that it’s wrong. The only solution I could find online was “email the company,” and that is more work than I want to do for something that barely reaches the level of “hobby” for me.
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Good overall
I won't comment on the PUC itself (its pitfalls are commented by other people elsewhere, especially the unsturdy clip, dependency on wifi and folksy power management). Regarding the app, the thing that stands out at first glance is that... there is no way to SORT the Species list (by date or name or IOU order); it's always by the number of detections. Also, what are AQI, VOC, eCO2 really? I found their definition and range on the web with some difficulty; those links in your online manual would be appreciated. Which brings the elephant in the room: WHY are those measures there; I have much difficulty thinking they have anything to do with bird identification! An explanation on how those and the other environmental measures contribute to that process would be well appreciated in the doc; simply referring to "BirdNET" does not cut it!
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Too many errors
I love the concept behind this device, but the results are often wrong or missing. Pine Grosbeaks are common in my soundscape but the PUC never detects them. Non bird sounds are regularly detected as birds that are far out of range. It does not keep up with bird name changes. The Merlin app has errors too, but it's much more accurate than the PUC. I frequently submit the errors, but it does seem to ever improve the results.
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New layout awful
New layout not intuitive. Why fix what's not broken?
A birder’s best friend
I love this app, the related website, PUC and the community that use them. The most recent updates give me the ability to easily keep track of the birds at home in Oz while becoming familiar with the birds in Europe while I’m travelling.
Enjoy this app but it's getting frustrating.
I am a blind person, and I like BirdWeather because I can click the listen button and find out what birds are singing, and not have to try to find a description of the birds identify it, but lately, the PUC thing that pops up when you first launch it is getting in my way, and it's very hard to find the clothes button. Usually by the time I make that screen go away, the bird I am after has stopped singing.
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Amazing and educational device and companion app
I have had my PUC for about a week now, and I can confidently say that it was well worth the investment. It has opened up my birder’s eyes to several other birds that frequent my back yard, as well as other transient birds that are flying over. Setup is quite effortless and operation is just as easy. You do need to be mindful of the power requirements of the PUC, but this is easily solved by the use of Lithium batteries or a power bank. The developer is extremely knowledgeable and responsive to questions and helped me a great deal with the initial setup. I would highly recommend the purchase of the PUC and the use of this app to anyone who loves birds or is interested in their dispersion and habits. PK
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Great AI tool for bird ID
This is a great new tool for identifying birds. It gives real time alerts to the variety of birds in the backyard so that I know what to look for. It’s fun to use while also contributing scientific data for improved bird conservation. I can strongly recommend this to anyone interested in birds.
Really fantastic support from Tim
I received an email response less than 15 minutes after contacting the support email for BirdWeather/PUC.
