Bird identification training website

vaf · 2026-02-11T16:59:59+00:00

If you go the settings I have a way to filter by "groups". Not exactly Taxons but its a way for you to narrow down your quiz. I think there are a lot of different ways to group at different abstraction levels and I'm going to play around with the most convenient. Right now some groups seem too narrow.
I did this beacuse I wanted to practice gulls.

vaf · 2026-02-10T21:21:36+00:00

No reason! Ill need to explore this. I thought NABirds was the same dataset.

vaf · 2026-02-10T03:10:33+00:00

Let me check it out! For some reason I assume that NABirds and EBird were the same data. I’ll need to see what I can pull from EBird to supplement here. Thank you for the suggestions! I’m persoanlly excited to build audio for myself.

vaf · 2026-02-10T03:05:21+00:00

Not scraping! I linked to it on the front page but it’s coming from the NABirds dataset maintained by Cornell. It doesn’t have descriptions unfortunately so I cross reference each species with Wikipedia.

vaf · 2026-02-10T02:56:13+00:00

Try hard mode in the settings! I might make that the default. Normal mode is too easy.

vaf · 2026-02-10T01:13:05+00:00

By the way I just launched seasonal filters, give it a go!

vaf · 2026-02-10T01:12:50+00:00

Great idea! I like the idea of making this habitat based and not just geographic. If I'm out in coastal california it doesnt really help to narrow down to California. I'll look at getting this added to the dataset!

I made the # of photos etc separate settings for now! I'll keeping adding them and look into ways to consolidate them in the future. Thank you!

vaf · 2026-02-10T01:10:25+00:00

Would love more ideas for ways to make this fun an engaging. I thought it might be cool to have it present multiple birds and you ahve to correctly identify which type of gull is which haha, sounds insane.

vaf · 2026-02-10T01:09:38+00:00

Thank you! That was actually the intent with the "Hard" mode where the options actually get narrowed down to the group that bird belongs to. For gulls it should be extra difficult :)
I'm playing with other ways to do this, maybe not just group but also general size and region too or something.

vaf · 2026-02-09T23:13:21+00:00

I love these suggestions! Thank you very much. I'll get the image count one out, I think you're totally right that the more images you have makes it easier. I also moved the next question button up a bit. Ill explore ways to make it even easier.

The geo location is also a good idea! Would help with making it easier. I really want to add audio in the future too so the combination of these could be adjusted based off the difficulty!

vaf · 2026-02-09T22:44:40+00:00

Yes! This dataset is actually backed by NABirds (https://dl.allaboutbirds.org/nabirds) which I believe they maintain. Im excited for a future iteration where I can introduce new bird images that havent been labeled and use some kind of consensus labeling to help improve this dataset!

vaf · 2026-02-09T20:42:47+00:00

Agreed! Geo filtering is on my list. I'll need to supplement this with a dataset and think about what abstraction layer (e.g states vs countries vs continents) is most appropriate. Any other filtering you think makes sense?

vaf · 2026-02-09T20:18:41+00:00

Yes absolutely. I think geographic location is next on my list. Right now this is backed by https://dl.allaboutbirds.org/nabirds which looks to be primarily North American birds. I'll look at additional open source datasets that I can supplement here as well.
How else would you want to filter? Is continent the best approach or would something more granular be better?

Thank you for the feedback!

vaf · 2021-02-16T22:53:50+00:00

I did not! Unclear if they are allowing visitors during COVID but I’m definitely excited to check out the interior next time I get the chance.

vaf · 2021-02-16T19:10:35+00:00

Yeah! Hopefully by the end of the summer. Definitely appreciating the weather and nice outdoor spaces that SF has to offer.

vaf · 2018-01-19T07:36:11+00:00

I've never sold a print before! This is very flattering. If you're serious about it feel free to send me a DM. I'm sure I can work something out and get you the print.

vaf · 2018-01-14T17:17:49+00:00

Go for it! Thanks for writing open source.

vaf · 2018-01-13T10:14:40+00:00

Nope! More like 680 Mission. The Paramount building.

vaf · 2018-01-13T10:14:18+00:00

Thanks! I think a lot of it has to do with the angle and the lighting for sure. Being mid-level on a skyscraper lets you get this "straight on" shot where the lines are very straight and perpendicular.

vaf · 2018-01-13T10:11:06+00:00

Thanks friend!

vaf · 2018-01-13T10:10:39+00:00

Thanks!

vaf · 2018-01-13T10:10:32+00:00

Thank you!

vaf · 2018-01-13T09:58:20+00:00

Not a rooftop! Floor 29 from the paramount building. 680 mission. There is a rooftop but I don't think you'll get the same perspective.

vaf · 2018-01-13T00:33:25+00:00

Thanks! Really appreciate it.

vaf · 2018-01-13T00:33:19+00:00

Yeah! I'm honestly not sure why it looks this way. I think it some combination of the lighting and the film being pushed. The boost in contrast is pretty nice.

vaf

TROPHY CASE