For the last week or so Rusty Blackbirds having been migrating through the Duluth area from their northern Canadian marshes and bogs. While traditionally birders tend to look down upon blackbirds, old Rusty represents something rather different. Normally once per yard I see these birds at Forest Hill Cemetery as they work their way south.
Yup, blackbirds can be beautiful!
I have immensely enjoyed using my BirdNET-Pi bird song listening devices. I have built one for my home, cabin, and several friends. These BirdNET-Pi’s are connected to both the internet and electrical grid, and upload their sound ID’s automatically to BirdWeather, which enables me (and anyone) to remotely monitor both resident and migrating birds:
My successes with a connected BirdNET-Pi led me to wonder if I could use the unit for research in the field. Although the small Raspberry-Pi computer/box does not have a hard drive, it does have running locally on its microsim card the Raspberry-Pi operating system, the BirdNET-Pi software AND the Cornell Birdnet birdsong database. Thus if I could solve power, date / time issues for the database, AND protect the small computer from the weather everything should work fine.
It took some time, effort, and mistakes, but the answer was YES! I now have a BirdNET-Pi which runs perfectly in the field as a research unit. I tend to run my BirdNET-Pi for four to six hours in any given 24 hour period. I then have the Raspberry-Pi automatically shut off and then turn on the next day (or night). In my case I tend to have the unit run at night during the early morning hours through the first hour after sunrise. In this manner my box captures and records both owls singing/hooting at night and then catches the morning songbird sing.
Here is a photograph of my BirdNET-Pi in its weather proof box. It is hooked up to a 60,000 mAp USB power bank via a USB power switch (24 hour cycle set to turn on and off after 4 or 6 hours of run time), and my USB microphone. I just place the entire box on the ground and hook the lavalier microphone to a tree branch. (This begs the question why don’t I use solar power? Answer: Solar is not only expensive, but needs to be deployed in an open area, which even in remote wilderness like northern Minnesota encourages theft)
Pi Power Adjustments
I actually turn off my Raspberry-Pi’s cooling fan (disconnect the pins given cold temperatures in Minnesota), wifi and Bluetooth. This helps conserve power for a remote unit running on a battery in the field. This configuration yields me about 36 hours of run time in the field.
Hardware Pi Modifications
Installing the RTC (real time clock) is simple. This chip, which has a battery and clock, allows your Raspberry-Pi 4b which has neither to always know the correct date and time. This data is then fed to your BirdNET-Pi installation such that every unique sound ID has date and time information for each database entry. There are some minor coding changes covered in the “software pi modifications” section of this post.
Gently push the RTC chip down onto the last / inner row of the computer pins closest to the end of the case. It is likely you will have to remove the pins for your cooling fan, and perhaps move the fan itself. Don’t worry, there are other 3.5 amp and electrical grounding pins for your fan (see this 4b pin mapping diagram). Your hardware installation is complete.
If you are like me, the location of my cooling fan had to be moved to install the RTC chip. I screwed my fan onto the top cover of the case. It is still easy to connect the fan’s pins through the case’s provided openings. The fan’s case is actually quite sturdy, and your entire unit is protected within your weatherproof box.
Software Pi Modifications
Edit Addition on April 6, 2026: I have discovered that these instructions only work with the older version of the Raspberry-Pi Operating System (Bookworm, not Trixie). I had to rework a recent Pi installation which was running Trixie back to Bookworm. I found “fixes” for the Trixie “hwclock” issues, but could not make those code changes work for me. You may be more successful.
These are the coding and software instructions for installing the RTC chip. BirdNET-Pi normally gets its database time and dates via its network connection, but obviously a remote unit will not be connected to any network. Follow these steps:
Type the code found below. The command shown below brings up the file “boot config.txt” which will be edited by the Raspberry Pi “nano editor” (short Nano tutorial via YouTube)
Reboot Raspberry Pi and type these 3 commands:
If yes … everything is fine. Shut down your Raspberry Pi. Remember to put Pi and BirdNET-Pi back on network time if desired. You may now toggle between using your RTC chip or the network (if connected via wifi or ethernet) for the current time. You also may wish to check the Pi’s time and date again using the commands given above.
By the 1st of December I will likely know whether a smaller owl irruption will follow last winter’s great event. Bird statistics show that it is not unusual for a smaller irruption to follow a big event (like last winter).
Last November, I was actually one of the first individuals who realized that a magical winter of owls was in the offing. Given all the hikes that I take up in the Greenwood Boreal Forest Bog Region, I knew the number of owls I was seeing was most unusual. I kept my mouth shut about sightings with the exception of a few very trusted friends. Eventually the owls would move down to more populated and birded areas near Lake Superior, and we wanted to enjoy the experience before the word got out across America’s birding community (and it did).
Yes, last winter was special. For the first time ever I had a “Great Gray Owl” yard bird, and the owls were easily found within ten minutes to twenty minutes of my house from the latter part of December through mid February. I have a HUGE number of images of last year’s irruption. This is a small subset of photos which I am thinking of entering in a contest.
Great Gray Owl Irruption … The Hunt
I learned from a friend who is a scientist with the Superior National Forest, that during the owl irruption almost nary a bird was a first year owl, a juvenile. Apparently Great Gray Owl reproduction had been good over the past few years, but now their primary prey, the forest vole, was in short supply. Although Great Gray Owls are not a bird which normally migrates, the lack of food forced the owls to move south. We also have native Great Gray Owls which live year round in northern Minnesota, including Greenwood.
Gray Gray Owl Irruption … Hunting During an Intense Snowstorm
This was one of the more crazy birding adventures I ever took. I was sitting at home on Groundhog’s Day, and Punxsutawney Phil definitely was NOT seeing its shadow in northeastern Minnesota. Instead we had almost blizzard like conditions with HUGE winds off Lake Superior. Who would go birding during such kind of weather? Me! Only 8 miles from my house on the Two Harbors Expressway, during the middle of the storm, I found many owls hunting from sign posts. Only starvation would make an owl hunt during the day AND a horrible snow storm.
Great Gray Owl Irruption … Two Harbors Lighthouse Scenes
For almost one month up to four Great Gray Owls would hunt at the Two Harbors waterfront. Eventually the word got out, and later in the day the crowds would get crazy. If I decided to visit Two Harbors (20 minutes from my home), I would normally arrive about 40 minutes before sunrise, and leave shortly after sunup. In this way I felt I captured the most dramatic light from pre-dawn to the 20 minutes post sunrise. Most people arrived a bit after sunrise or later. Thus, my experiences were mainly crowd free!
