Song Sleuth: Auto Bird Song ID w/ David Sibley
Song Sleuth turns your Android phone or tablet into an automatic bird song identifier covering the 200 most common vocalizing land birds in the U.S.A. Developed by Wildlife Acoustics, in collaboration with world-renowned bird expert and illustrator David Sibley, the app records bird songs and suggests matching species. The identification algorithms are the result of over a decade of research and experience designing professional bioacoustics recorders and software.
Not just for beginners, the app also has features for intermediate birders who might need an identification hint or wish to study the included example recordings to take their ear birding to the next level. Advanced birders who don’t need any identification help will appreciate the ability to make and keep recordings for further study.
PLEASE READ BEFORE PURCHASING
Song Sleuth gets you started with suggested matches, but it is not perfect. Ultimately, it’s up to you to make the final identification. The app is intended to be an interactive and fun way to learn birding by ear. The more engaged you are in the process, the more we hope you will learn. Please read the following information on the app’s capabilities and limitations:
-The app does not identify simple calls, chips and scolds, only bird songs and more distinct calls that are characteristic of that species.
-The app does not recognize birds that are mimicking other birds such as the Thrashers and Mockingbird.
-It is ideal to get a recording of a single bird singing. The app can be confused by noise or background birds but tools are provided to trim and filter your recordings to improve the results.
- The app performs best outdoors with live birds, and not as well with pre-recorded sounds. Also, Song Sleuth automatically selects the birds that are likely to be in your area at the present time of year, so you need to be sure the birds you are playing are selected in the SPECIES LIST.
SONG SLEUTH HELPS YOU IDENTIFY SINGING BIRDS
Simply press the record button when you hear a bird singing and the app begins recording a few seconds back in time using the built-in microphone. Tap the record button again when the song is complete and Song Sleuth immediately shows you three most likely species. To assist you in determining the correct bird, you can listen to your recording and the example recordings of the likely matches as well as compare their spectrograms side-by-side.
SAVE, VIEW, LISTEN TO AND SHARE RECORDINGS
Recordings are saved in the RECORDING LIST where you can view the recording’s spectrogram, listen to the recording (and speed it up or slow down), add a text note, or view the GPS location. You can also trim the recording or filter the frequency range to remove extraneous sounds. Recordings can be shared with other Song Sleuth users via text messaging or email.
INCLUDES DAVID SIBLEY BIRD REFERENCE INFORMATION
The included David Sibley Bird Reference lets you learn more about each species. The reference includes Sibley illustrations of each bird, a description of each bird and its songs, zoomable range maps and a bar chart showing the likelihood of each bird’s presence in your area throughout the year, using Sibley’s extensive database of bird presence.
COMPLETE COLLECTION OF EXAMPLE RECORDINGS
Well-known nature recordist Lang Elliot and friends spent countless hours recording in the field to provide over 1,000 world-class recording examples of the included bird species. You can listen to a all the vocalizations made by each species or compare spectrograms to your own recordings or examples from other species.
SEE YOUR RECORDING LOCATIONS
Recording locations can be viewed on a satellite or road map or transferred to a computer and viewed in Google Earth. (Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.)
Category : Books & Reference
Reviews (30)
When you make a recording it's saved on a list, and when you ID a bird you can check it off. My first time using the app (there was no sign-in or account creation) and those screens seems to be populated with someone else's data. The worst part is that it doesn't work- AT ALL. I spent two hours getting loud, clear recordings of birds right in front of me that I could identify, and the app never even came close to getting a correct ID. The people claiming it works have to be lying.
I spent a fair amount of time trying to use this app in the field. It frequently froze up or crashed making it very difficult to get a usable recording. It's clear a lot of work has gone into the app and the user interface is well-thought out, although it could use some improvements. Whenever the app crashed and I had the option to send the developers a report, I sent one. I finally gave up sending feedback when I never heard back from the developers. It's unfortunate, since this is potentially an interesting and useful app if the bugs could be worked out.
This app I have used now for I believe about a month. It has been a consistent disappointment. Not once in over 200 recordings has the "possible match" produced a call even close to what I recorded. So I have no idea if the bird I recorded is one of the three the app matched it with. Additionally, many times one of the three "possible match" birds will be a hawk, which sounds nothing like what I have recorded. I do all my recording in the fields and woods around our house. No traffic sounds.
The interface is great except for a 'Run Auto ID' glitch. It did not recognize common Maryland birds. Let's hope they fix it. Many times it wouldn't go from the recording to the 'select song' page. It would just spin in 'Run Auto ID' and never quit. The good is you are able to record and store your own recordings after you figure out from some other source the ID of the bird. It could not ID a Titmouse or Carolina Wren. Birdnet can ID them.
Unfortunately, this app will not import a previous audio recording for identification purposes. It will only identify based on live recordings taken by the app itself. Since I needed help identifying a bird I recorded a few days ago, Song Sleuth was not useful for me. However, I did discover that Merlin by Cornell Lab can do what I needed so, if you're looking for the same thing, I recommend giving it a try.
Can't I just upload the file I recorded half an hour ago before I knew this app existed? The berb already flew off. Update: wow. Just wow. This app sux. I selected the information tab, and now it'll only show that. I swept it out of the tray, I opened it in settings menu, force quit / cleared cache, but it still just opens straight into the information tab. Most durable glitch of all time.
The idea of this app is so great. The only downfall is that it's lacking in a lot of species. I know it's got US, Canada, and Alaska. I recorded a clip and it was unable to identify it as a peacock. I went to YouTube and was able to match my recording to the calls. (I saw a peacock earlier in the day and thought it sounded similar). Anyway, please add more species. I saw someone's emu and it didn't pick up their sounds either. Hoping for more updates!
Takes too long to load. If you lock your screen, the app shuts down as well. Then you have to go thru the whole start-up initialization process again - while your bird is flying away from you. Results are often way off base. I downloaded the CA package but still got IDs of East Coast birds.
I loved this app until the the information button beside each species disappeared. I liked being able to go through the list of songs and calls and choosing what I wanted to hear. Now I have to listen to the entire song list. I have reinstalled the app, but no success in getting that feature back.
Unable to correctly identify clear, common bird calls and frequently crashes when trying to ID. If it worked it would be great, well designed and user friendly but unfortunately it doesn't serve its intended purpose at all so I can't recommend.
It does basically what I was hoping for. I can customize to get birds in my area of the US during a specific time of the year, multiple calls for species, adequate information. So far no issues with downloading and I prefer to make my own IDs so my expectations regarding ID recordings is not high.
So very awesome. I have a UI suggestion. Please add small waveform icons to the list of pre-recorded songs in the suggested bird menu. Then we can quickly visually scan and play the closest songs to the waveform we are identifying.
LOTS of buggy behavior on my pixel2. This seems like a pretty poor port of a decent iPhone app. Song highlighting does not work. So far, not a single ID attempt has returned a result. I could go on.... Save your money.
This app would be a great start of a beta test but is a poor finished product. It has three main problems. First is it has issues IDing anything. A chipping sparrow trills it thinks junco as the closest pick. A house wren calls it thinks marsh wren. A chestnut sided warbler is also IDed as marsh wren. Marsh wren and kestrel is its default choices. Second is its limited ID ability gets thrown off completely by any background noise. If you move when using it use it near traffic, chipmunks call,
The design of this app is fantastic. It's exactly what an app should be from top to bottom regardless of what the app is for. Well designed, easy to use and just designed flawlessly. Great work to the designers and programmers!
I have heard an odd birdcall for years that I could not identify. This app immediately let me record it, isolate it, and after about the fifth try, identify it. I am very impressed! The odd sound was coming from one of our woodpeckers, which must have a nest near where I have heard this previously mysterious sound. Highly recommended for identifying our feathered friends by sound!
Worked for 6 months. Now just continues to say "initializing." Wrote to company and got no response. Uninstalled and reinstalled. Still says initializing. Cannot get menu to contact whatever/whoever is listed there. Very disappointed.
It's so fun and easy to use. Sometimes you yet multiple birds it could be, but if you go through each bird's recordings, then it will be easier to identify. I honestly love it and have found no glitches. I think that it would be nice to be able to identify with a picture.
Agree with the naysayers. I submitted two different clips of the same northern mockingbird recorded minutes apart. It suggested 5 possible matches, none correct. Great idea for an app, but this one isn’t ready to come out of beta.
Needed to identify a bird. This app did not have the Chuck-Will's-Widow (I was able to identify by other means) yet I can not edit my recording to add the name. And the app misidentified by a stretch anyway!!
4 stars. easy to use. like how it includes squirrels and toads that make similar sounds. found it very strange that purple martins weren't in the database considering how common they are in Kentucky, especially in the spring. but overall a good app
Very impressed, I used the app under less than idea conditions. It was raining with thunder and wind and my neighbor was moving his trash cans around but the app picked out the high pitched and faint bird call and identified it correctly!
Nice collection of bird call recordings to play. But the record-and-identify feature didn't work at all.
This is a labor of love! Such a large collection of birds, and information about them. True, I haven't used the recording feature, which I guess doesn't work well. But still... This is a great asset to anyone that wants to learn more about birds and their sounds. Thank you!
I'd love to give this app a better rating (5*), as it really is awesome and works surprisingly well. I use it along side Merlin Bird ID, a super local bird guide, and a Peterson guide to North American birds. However.... what happened to the bushtit? I've searched for its common AND scientific names, manually scrolled, I SWEAR I've seen a Sibley bushtit painting before (I remember the pale eyes looking slightly less perturbed than the wrentit, and otherwise a pleasant aquatic-smoke color).
This app is terrible. I tried it out, recording bird calls I already know so when I heard them I'd know if the app was correct. Not ONCE did it get the right bird. It couldn't identify a northern Cardinal or Carolina Wren. Would not recommend wasting your time with this.
As mentioned in another comment, this thing would be ok for a first round of beta testing. It fails even basic, common bird song tests with reasonable recordings. I shudder to think of all the people thinking they've identified songs and are completely wrong.
This is a fantastic app for identifying birds and their songs. The artwork and app UI are simply beautiful. Excellent job!
Well executed! I wish most apps were as well designed and executed as this. So good. The sound files are also surprisingly good! Real birds seem to respond to them and I kid you not, I played the Red Tailed hawk screech for some chickens at my buddy's farm, and they ran for the barn!
Love the recordings and pictures. Likelihood is not terribly accurate though, and it would be nice to be able report sightings to increase accuracy. For instance, it says bald eagles are scarce here, but we see them at least a couple of times per week without being outside all the time.