BirdWeather PUC

Access BirdWeather PUC station data — species detections, sensor readings (AQI, temperature, humidity, pressure, eCO₂, sound dB), and historical trends. Use when the user asks about backyard birds, what species were detected recently, air quality from a BirdWeather station, new species arrivals, or wants alerts when a species is detected for the first time. Requires a BirdWeather station token (free from app.birdweather.com). Triggers on phrases like "what birds have I heard", "new species today", "BirdWeather detections", "backyard birds", "PUC sensor readings".

Fetch bird detections, species lists, and environmental sensor data from a BirdWeather PUC station.

Setup

BirdWeather tokens are public (no auth required for read access). Find yours at: app.birdweather.com → Station Settings → Token

Store token in environment or pass directly:

export BIRDWEATHER_TOKEN=your_token_here

Core Script

Use scripts/birdweather.py for all data access:

# Daily summary — detections, species count, top birds, sensors
python3 scripts/birdweather.py summary --token TOKEN

# Recent detections (last N, default 10)
python3 scripts/birdweather.py detections --token TOKEN --limit 20

# Top species for a time period
python3 scripts/birdweather.py species --token TOKEN --period week

# Current sensor readings (AQI, temp, humidity, pressure, eCO₂, sound dB)
python3 scripts/birdweather.py sensors --token TOKEN

# Log sensor snapshot to SQLite (for history/trends)
python3 scripts/birdweather.py log --token TOKEN --db PATH_TO_DB

# Check for new species (first-ever detections vs. known catalog)
python3 scripts/birdweather.py new-species --token TOKEN --db PATH_TO_DB

All commands output JSON. Parse with json.loads() or pipe to jq.

Workflows

New Species Alert

1. Run new-species — compares live species list against DB catalog
2. If new species found: alert user with common name, scientific name, confidence, timestamp
3. Update DB with log command

Daily Summary

1. Run summary for today's counts and top birds
2. Run sensors for current environmental readings
3. Combine into a brief — detections, species count, top 3-5 birds, AQI/temp

Sensor Trend Analysis

1. Log regularly with log --db (add to cron/heartbeat)
2. Query SQLite birdweather_sensor_history table for trends
3. Look for AQI spikes, temperature patterns, sound level changes

SQLite Schema

When using --db, two tables are maintained:

birdweather_species — cumulative species catalog:

species_id INTEGER, common_name TEXT, scientific_name TEXT,
color TEXT, thumbnail_url TEXT, first_detected_at TEXT,
detection_count INTEGER

birdweather_sensor_history — time-series sensor log:

id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, recorded_at TEXT,
temp_f REAL, humidity REAL, pressure REAL,
aqi REAL, eco2 REAL, sound_db REAL, voc REAL

API Reference

See references/api.md for full endpoint documentation.

System Access

• Network: app.birdweather.com/api/v1/stations/{token}/* (read-only, no auth)
• Disk: SQLite DB at user-specified path (optional, only with --db)
• No credentials stored — token is passed per-invocation