My dad and I were doing some research when we came across this website: http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB63037&cv=820&title=#fbid=jAsra7Fjgvt

Here’s what we found on this website:

“Send a text message from email to an AT&T wireless device

This means I can send a text using email! With this knowledge, I can simply put a new address into my Python program, and I’ll be able to text my mom instead of emailing her. This is good for my project, because my mom will be able to see a text faster than an email, so if there are birds on the cove, she’ll know right away.

Today I did some work with the Raspberry Pi, and I figured out how to use Python to send an email!

First, I learned how to send an email using the command line. I got the code here. Second, I tried to use Python to send an email using the code here. Unfortunately, that didn’t work, so I tried the code here. Luckily, this code worked! All I had to do was modify it so it had the correct email addresses, message, and subject. I’ll eventually make this code a function so I can use it in my program for the bird detector. If you looked at my list in an earlier post, you’ll see that this was Step 5. Next, I’ll probably try to detect motion using the Raspberry Pi camera or control the Raspberry Pi camera using Python.

As promised, here are the links to some of the videos I took using the Raspberry Pi camera.

http://youtu.be/vDbl8RW7FDM-first video

http://youtu.be/y3Y1cGevmOA-lake with nothing on it

http://youtu.be/ApLYlD5RdNA-bird swimming in the cove

http://youtu.be/mtf3t1dbpyQ-my little brother acting like a bird

These videos aren’t particularly exciting, but some of them have motion in them that I can use while making my bird detector. These videos are the first steps in finishing my project.

When you have a big problem to solve, the first thing you should do is break it into manageable pieces. That’s why to help me solve my bird-detector problem, I’ve broken the problem into steps. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. Use Python to control camera.
2. Use camera to detect motion.
3. Use Python to detect motion.
4. Modify Python program to only detect birds.
5. Use Python to send an email or text message.
6. Modify Python program to send an email or text message when it detects birds.
7. Modify Python program so it works at the lake.
8. Mount Raspberry Pi and camera at the lake and start the program.

I think I’m going to start by solving problems 2 and 3, because if they don’t work, nothing in the program will work. Wish me luck!