Author Topic: Apps for Birdsong  (Read 2031 times)

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Apps for Birdsong
« on: 27 May, 2020, 11:59:44 am »
I set myself a goal of seeing and identifying 100 UK bird species this year, partly because CET Junior has become interested in wildlife photography and with a static caravan in Selsey (surrounded by Pagham and Medmerry RSPB reserves) it gave a bit of purpose to the enjoyment.  Now spending nearly all of my time in Basingstoke suburbs, realised that lots of bird species are brown and fly into bushes at the first sign of human presence, making it difficult to identify, except through song.

I found the RSPB website really helpful, but only if I knew the species, which is difficult when the little warbler/sparrow/something blur that was caught in a split second of motion disappears without trace. 

So a birdsong app that can guess the species of a bird from a call would be great.  Warblr seemed to be the market leader, but I then happened on BirdNET which is free and from my initial experiments in our garden, reasonable accurate (it not only gives a possible identification but also a probability).  It gives a sound trace from 1kHz to 12kHz showing what sounds were recorded so if there are multiple birds singing at the same time you can select the part of the trace in which your bird is singing - a magpie's cackle is 3Khz, a  sparrows piping is 9Khz.

Sharing this but also interested in others' experiences.
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

Re: Apps for Birdsong
« Reply #1 on: 14 June, 2020, 10:57:34 pm »
Also trying BirdNET at the mo, having been recommended it by a neighbour.   Impressed by the ease of use, and sensitivity on default settings.   Neat display.    :thumbsup:

"BirdNET is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Chemnitz University of Technology."
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.tu_chemnitz.mi.kahst.birdnet&hl=en_GB



Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Apps for Birdsong
« Reply #2 on: 15 June, 2020, 08:15:14 am »
Xeno-Canto is worth checking your recordings against. You've got to search by bird name, but there are many recordings to compare (songs can vary considerably, and there are alarm calls etc to consider too). There are also sonograms to compare against.

https://www.xeno-canto.org/

Re: Apps for Birdsong
« Reply #3 on: 15 June, 2020, 09:58:18 am »
Quote
So a birdsong app that can guess the species of a bird from a call would be great. 

I have tried most of the commonly downloaded ones for Android and so far I think BirdNET, as per Andyoxon’s post, is the best.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

  • Miles eaten don't satisfy hunger
  • Chartered accountant in 5 different decades
    • CET Ride Reports and Blogs
Re: Apps for Birdsong
« Reply #4 on: 17 June, 2020, 10:21:27 pm »
Xeno-Canto is worth checking your recordings against. You've got to search by bird name, but there are many recordings to compare (songs can vary considerably, and there are alarm calls etc to consider too). There are also sonograms to compare against.

https://www.xeno-canto.org/

The xeno-canto recordings are also available on the RSPB website - the difficulty comes with birdsong I don't know (which unfortunately is quite a lot).   But with these apps I am starting to recognise birdsong much better - having never identified a chiffchaff before, I'm now hearing their calls several times through a 20mile cycle ride.
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)