FAQ

Haikubox uses a proprietary neural network, (a specific kind of machine learning or artificial intelligence) called BirdNet for Haikubox to identify birds. It’s pretty cool science - thousands of correctly labeled bird sounds make up training dataset which is used to teach a computer to recognize individual bird calls and songs. With enough examples, the computer gets very good at identifying new sounds it hasn’t heard before. This training method is a lot like teaching a toddler the meaning of the word “dog.” It starts with lots of examples and caregiver guidance (“That’s a dog. What a nice dog!”) followed by the child trying out the word when encountering new animals (“Dog?” “No honey, that’s a cat.” vs. “Dog?” “Yes! What a beautiful dog!”).

Yes! You can get a smartphone notification for any species you find interesting when the bird is detected with medium confidence and had not been recently heard. Plus there are “New Bird Alerts” when any new bird is nearby, including migrating birds. New Bird Alerts are triggered when there are five detections of the same bird on one day, and there have been fewer than five detections on each of the previous four days. The reason for this algorithm is to capture species that might be moving through your area -- you can get an alert when birds like warblers migrate through each year. The requirement to have five detections in a day is to reduce alerts when there might be a false detection (which typically only has one or two in a day). You may get an alert for the same species up to six times per month. Set up alerts using the Haikubox mobile app.

Download and sign into the Haikubox smartphone app or sign into the listen website to see and hear your birds.

Yes, and it is easy to toggle between your Haikuboxes on the Listen website or smartphone app. Once you connect your second (or third, or fourth!) Haikubox, a dropdown will appear on the site so you can switch between the boxes and monitor all of your birds.

Each Haikubox can only have one owner who has the ability to change security settings and get notifications. This is determined during the setup process with the Haikubox Connect app. Any number of other Listen site/app account holders can quickly view what your Haikubox is identifying by bookmarking the Haikubox. Go to the map, zoom in on the Haikubox and click on it. Once it loads, click the pink tab icon to add the bookmark dropdown. You also can share your bird feed (recently identified birds) with anyone by generating a unique website under Settings. Click the box to share your Haikubox with friends, and then copy and share the link created.

Not yet, but you can help make it better. The neural net (BirdNet for Haikubox) can be fooled by some non-bird sounds, trickster birds (Blue Jays are known to mimic hawks and Northern Mockingbirds are master imitators), and similar sounding chirps, calls, and tinks. Each identified bird includes a high, medium or low confidence level which indicates how certain it is of the species prediction. You can help make the Haikubox more accurate by labeling both correct and incorrect identifications. You also can filter your view to hide less confident predictions and any individual species.

The Haikubox neural net can be fooled by some non-bird sounds (e.g., a siren misidentified as an Eastern Screech-Owl), trickster birds (e.g., Blue Jays mimicking hawks), and similar sounding chirps, calls, and tinks. When Haikubox owners label these incorrect identifications they provide us with information used to train newer neural nets, but net development can be a slow, deliberate process. Your labels DO NOT immediately impact the net or what you see in the bird feed. To hide any annoying identifications, we recommend filtering the view to see only higher confidence predictions (use the Medium or High settings) and hide any individual species by sliding the “Show” button, found at the top of each bird card, to the left.

You may be able to see the birds by changing the filter to show ‘L’ow confidence detections, especially if the bird’s song or call was not very loud. Contact us atsupport@haikubox.comif you still think a species is missing — we may be able to tweak your settings so it appears. This is especially true if you live on the edge of a bird’s range. It will be particularly helpful to confirm that the bird is vocalizing (songs and/or calls), whether you think it is being misidentified as a different bird, or whether its song/call appears in the background of a different bird recording.  If possible, please send us one or more recordings of the bird to help with troubleshooting.

No. Your Haikubox will record bird songs and identify birds 24/7. The app and website are ways for you to see the identified birds.

Your Haikubox is always ready to identify birds. It records and presents three-second sound samples on the app and website which are also saved in its cloud-based database.

No, your Haikubox is always listening for birdsong, but it does not stream audio. Instead, it makes a three-second recording which it sends to the website and app for you to hear and see.

Yes, Haikubox owners can download a CSV file with summary data or individual bird identification data. Log into the Haikubox listen site, go to the All page and look for the blue “Download CSV” button on the right. It is not possible to download data using the app.

Yes! As a Haikubox owner, you can download individual recordings as .wav files. You must be logged into the Haikubox listen site (not the smartphone app) to download. From the main Bird Feed page, choose Last 2 Hours, Last 4 Hours or Last 24 Hours from the View selector, find the species and individual recording you would like to download, and click the download icon. You can also download recordings from the Favorites page which is handy if you plan to download the recording in the future.

It depends on several things, including how loud the bird sings and its pitch, and environmental factors such as background noise and even relative humidity. Some species can be heard over great distances (Sandhill Cranes and Canada Geese, for example) while others must be much closer to be heard (such as hummingbirds).

Your Haikubox should automatically reconnect when it drops from WiFi. If it drops frequently, consider installing a WiFi extender or mesh WiFi system. You can try different Haikubox locations or orientations and see whether the signal improved on the app/website. Note that the signal strength indicator only updates every few minutes on the app/website.

No. The neural net, BirdNet for Haikubox, was trained to identify birds, but it does falsely detect some non-bird sounds. Barking dogs, playing children, and irritated squirrels are sometimes incorrectly identified as birds. The net improves when Haikubox users (Haikuligans) label these sounds. The system is designed to ignore human speech (see the privacy policy) and you can change the privacy settings at any time to make your audio private.

Not yet. Haikubox currently covers the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and European countries and we are testing Haikuboxes in other locations including Australia, Mexico and Central/South America.

You will need to go through the connection process using the Haikubox Connect smartphone app. This will connect your box back to WiFi and find your location so it can identify birds in your new area appropriately.

No. Your Haikubox requires too much power to continuously monitor and record audio. Your Haikubox also requires a way to share data, and a remote location would require cellphone or satellite service, making the box much more expensive to purchase and operate.

Yes, your Haikubox can withstand a temperature range of approximately -40 to 80 degrees C (-40 to 175 degrees F).

The website works best using Chrome, Firefox or Safari; other browsers may not be compatible with all of the listen site’s features.

Yes, Haikubox owners can use the calendar feature, found on the Recent page, next to the time filter (2 ‘H’ours, 6H, etc.) to see previously identified birds, listen to their recordings, and view the spectrograms.

Each Haikubox was designed and is hand-built and tested in our Sarasota, FL office, using high-quality but expensive parts. And because each box listens for birds around the clock, there are some significant cloud computing and storage costs. The cost of parts, labor and data all figure into the pricing.

Because of the high cost of cloud computing, a paid Membership (subscription) is required to access everything your Haikubox has to offer. This Membership may be prepaid or paid-as-you-go. A free tier is available (Basic Membership) with limited functionality. See this comparison to see the differences between a paid and free subscription.