There’s a bird I hear that brings me great joy. I seem to associate its call with warm days in the spring as I sun myself on slow ski lifts and watch the winter melt-off. I was sure it was a Phoebe. But when I went to share the sound and information on the bird with a teammate who lives in South America, I discovered that the Phoebe doesn’t make the sound I heard. So what was it?

This is when I discovered the free BirdNet app from Cornell University. Basically it takes the audio of birds singing, then I can choose a time period. It analyzes the sound and suggests which birds it identifies.

From the results, one can click a link to learn about the bird. Even better, it saves the previous findings. Here is a screencast of one session:

It’s my latest addiction. I even find myself pulling out the app at 4am to catch their wake-up calls. Nature is so awesome.