One thing that really reminds us that spring is on the way is the sound of birds singing. There are a few birds that sing through the winter, such as Robins and Blackbirds, but it is springtime when the dawn chorus reaches its full repertoire of birds. International Dawn Chorus Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in May each year, when those who appreciate nature’s sounds rise early to listen to the sweet music of birds singing. There are advantages in starting earlier in the year: dawn is at a more sensible time of the morning; there are fewer birds singing (making is easier to pick out each species); and you can get your ear in and the technology sorted before the rush starts.
However, for many people (me included) trying to decide which bird is making each song proves rather difficult. If you are one of those who struggle with birdsong, help is at hand in the form of an app that can be loaded onto your mobile phone. ‘Merlin’ is free to download, works on Apple and Android phones, and is a remarkable tool for identifying all birds, whether from descriptions of the bird, from photographs, or from sound recordings. To identify the bird song, all you need to do is get as close as you reasonably can to the bird, hold still, and click the microphone symbol on the app to start recording. As shown in the image here, a sonogram is produced (a visual representation of the song) together with the best matches to the song. It does not get it right every time, but so far all of the birds that I have recorded appear to have been correctly identified. All of your recordings can be saved and used to build up a library of your bird songs if you wish.
I think the app will really come into its own when our summer migrants start to arrive and start to sing in areas where thick vegetation means that you can’t get a good look at them. This is particularly true of the warblers, small brown birds with few distinctive markings and often secretive habits. The picture here shows a Garden Warbler that I saw at Groby Pool last spring. It was high in a tree and I couldn’t see enough of it to identify which warbler it was, but an expert birder assured me that the distinctive song was the best way to decide the species. I am looking forward to using the app this year for such tricky birds.
If you are interested in developing your sound recording skills further, it is recommended that a directional microphone is used as this is better at picking out the birdsong from the general noise. There are also specialist recorders and parabolic dishes for those with money to spare. There are those who enjoy bird recording by night as well as during the day. For anyone interested in recording nocturnal bird migration (nocmig) the website (https://nocmig.com) will provide you with all of the information that you need to get started.
One thing that really reminds us that spring is on the way is the sound of birds singing. There are a few birds that sing through the winter, such as Robins and Blackbirds, but it is springtime when the dawn chorus reaches its full repertoire of birds. International Dawn Chorus Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in May each year, when those who appreciate nature’s sounds rise early to listen to the sweet music of birds singing. There are advantages in starting earlier in the year: dawn is at a more sensible time of the morning; there are fewer birds singing (making is easier to pick out each species); and you can get your ear in and the technology sorted before the rush starts.
However, for many people (me included) trying to decide which bird is making each song proves rather difficult. If you are one of those who struggle with birdsong, help is at hand in the form of an app that can be loaded onto your mobile phone. ‘Merlin’ is free to download, works on Apple and Android phones, and is a remarkable tool for identifying all birds, whether from descriptions of the bird, from photographs, or from sound recordings. To identify the bird song, all you need to do is get as close as you reasonably can to the bird, hold still, and click the microphone symbol on the app to start recording. As shown in the image here, a sonogram is produced (a visual representation of the song) together with the best matches to the song. It does not get it right every time, but so far all of the birds that I have recorded appear to have been correctly identified. All of your recordings can be saved and used to build up a library of your bird songs if you wish.
I think the app will really come into its own when our summer migrants start to arrive and start to sing in areas where thick vegetation means that you can’t get a good look at them. This is particularly true of the warblers, small brown birds with few distinctive markings and often secretive habits. The picture here shows a Garden Warbler that I saw at Groby Pool last spring. It was high in a tree and I couldn’t see enough of it to identify which warbler it was, but an expert birder assured me that the distinctive song was the best way to decide the species. I am looking forward to using the app this year for such tricky birds.
If you are interested in developing your sound recording skills further, it is recommended that a directional microphone is used as this is better at picking out the birdsong from the general noise. There are also specialist recorders and parabolic dishes for those with money to spare. There are those who enjoy bird recording by night as well as during the day. For anyone interested in recording nocturnal bird migration (nocmig) the website (https://nocmig.com) will provide you with all of the information that you need to get started.