this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2025
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A music and science lover has revealed that some birds can store and retrieve digital data. Specifically, he converted a PNG sketch of a bird into an audio waveform, then tried to embed it in the song memory of a young starling, ready for later retrieval as an image. Benn Jordan made a video of this feat, sharing it on YouTube, and according to his calculations, the bird-based data transfer system could be capable of around 2 MB/s data speeds.

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[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Data on a bird ? This will convince people about birds being drones more now.

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[–] ScrotusMaximus@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)

good to see there are new developments in the IP Over Avian Carrier space

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[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 8 points 2 days ago (4 children)

?Fun? fact: In a steampunk world, birds would serve as CPUs. America experimented with using pigeons for bomb guidance. As it turned out, three birds pecking at an image had pretty good accuracy. They ultimately lost out to silicon, due to the size, maintenance, and training time.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

There was an amusing short story about a guy who could do actual math in his head (I think it was by Asimov).

Edit: found it, it's "The Feeling Of Power" by Asimov.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

They ultimately lost out to silicon

for now....

They ultimately lost out to silicon

Fuckin computers taking birds' jobs.

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[–] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

What if I have bird blindness and I try and teach it to a duck?

[–] markstos@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Ducks? That’s quackery.

[–] digger@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

What's the deal with the parrot?

[–] InvalidName2@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

While it sounds great in practice, I find it suspicious that they never mention the the final bill.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 6 points 2 days ago

not that kind of bird

[–] salty_chief@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Birds are the OG text device. Tie a little note and send them on their way.

One famous example is Cher Ami, a pigeon who delivered a message that saved a group of surrounded American soldiers during WW1.

Edit: WW1 and WW3 /s

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[–] magikmw@piefed.social 11 points 2 days ago

The video is by Benn Jordan, I wholeheartedly recommend this video and entire channel. Guy is a world treasure.

[–] Joeyowlhouse@lemmy.wtf 2 points 2 days ago

I heard the Falcon service is the fastest.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 3 points 2 days ago

I got the error correction baseball bat!

[–] dsilverz@calckey.world 4 points 2 days ago

@gedaliyah@lemmy.world

In order to transmit/receive data during the night, a different carrier and modulation should be used: owls and a hoot-based Morse code (e.g. "ho-ho-ho-ho hooo-hooo-hooo hooo-hooo-hooo hooo" safely conveys "hoot" through the night skies).

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 2 days ago

Send a raven.

[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

B I R D S A R E N T R E A L

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Yep, obviously a government funded drone if it only has 2Mb uplink

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