Design and Implementation of an IoT Wireless Sensor Network for Bird Feeder Monitoring

The prevalence of IoT devices allows for unique applications toward conservation science, including an increased opportunity for citizen engagement in scientific studies. This paper explores one of many paths to create a bird feeder monitoring system to enable a citizen's increased involvement in scientific studies. A sensor was designed to monitor temperature, humidity, air pressure, incident light, sound, and motion. These sensors were implemented on an Arduino Nano BLE Sense, an off-the-shelf printed circuit board that also has a radio module on it. A program was designed for a Raspberry Pi 4 to aggregate and display data. The end node and aggregation node are connected using the Bluetooth protocol. Data aggregation and display are managed in a way that allows for external analysis and future expansion. In addition, a path forward for future features is discussed. Network scaling for scientific contribution to population counts and surveys is also discussed.