DFBP Articles

• A Narrow Window South: The Brant Passage of Late October

  Between October 21 and 30, the Davidson Farm Bird Monitor recorded a brief, concentrated movement of Brant, the small Arctic goose known for its tight coastal migration route. Early detections were negligible—just seven low-confidence calls on October 21—but by the 29th the system logged 67 events, rising to 233 on October 30 with confidence scores […]

• Palm Warbler as a Test Case

  Palm Warblers don’t breed here at Davidson Farm. They only pass through briefly in fall on their way south. That makes them a good “test bird” for the Bird Monitor system: if the monitor picks them up in the right season, and the pattern of detections lines up with what’s known from regional migration data, […]

• First Thoughts on Confidence Levels and A Grackle Migratory Group

  One thing I wrestle with on this project is how to handle the confidence scores that BirdNET gives each detection. Every time the system hears something, it tells me how sure it is — from 0 (not at all sure) to 1 (completely certain). Some people might think it’s a mistake to include every detection […]

• Waiting for the Owls

  I’m waiting for the owls. In a way, they’re part of why I began the bird monitor in the first place. Given their nocturnal ways, I always wondered if I was simply missing their calls—never outside at the right time to hear them. I wanted to know for sure. It had been years since I’d […]