Show HN: An e-ink frame that hears birds and draws them as 1800s illustrations

A unique Raspberry Pi-powered e-ink frame, known as Fugleramme, has been developed to detect birds in real-time using audio, and render them as hand-cut illustrations from the 1800s. The project, still in early development, currently features live updates from the user's garden in Bergen, Norway, and can be viewed at fugleramme.arnegiacomo.dev.

The device relies on BirdNET-Go, an audio classifier that listens for bird sounds via a microphone and processes them using local AI. Once a bird species is detected, it is matched with a corresponding illustration from a collection of over 800 hand-cut, public-domain images covering more than 400 species. These illustrations, taken from real plates and curated from natural history sources, range from Scandinavian, British, and Central European origins.

Fugleramme uses an Inky Impression 13.3 e-ink panel to display the birds, with larger birds placed closer to the center and sized according to their body mass. When no birds are heard, an empty window shows a bare perch. The e-ink panel is not essential, and the frame can function as a web kiosk on HDMI or a network-connected display.

The hardware required to run Fugleramme includes a Raspberry Pi 5, an Inky Impression panel, a microphone, and an A4 frame. A guide with full parts lists, recommendations, and alternatives is available on the project's website. The creators are actively seeking contributions for fixes, documentation, and artwork to expand coverage to broader European and North American regions.