BirdHere

BIRD SONG

Identifying a bird by its song on iPhone

BirdHere listens for twelve seconds and returns a suggestion together with the evidence behind it. You confirm or reject it, and your decision is what enters the journal.

How to do it

  1. Start a twelve-second Quick ID. Quick ID is unlimited and free. Use a short, clear passage rather than a long recording of mostly background.
  2. Check the competing candidates. A single name with no alternatives tells you nothing about confidence. BirdHere shows what else it considered and how far behind it was.
  3. Look at the recording quality. Wind on the microphone, traffic and nearby speech all degrade the evidence. The app reports this instead of quietly guessing through it.
  4. Write your own conclusion. Confirm or reject the suggestion. The journal records what you decided, so your notes stay trustworthy over time.

What separates a useful identifier from a confident one

  • Most identifiers always name something, because a name feels like a result. That is the failure mode: a plausible wrong answer is worse than no answer.
  • BirdHere will state plainly that it cannot say, and show you why.
  • Human speech in the recording is recognised and logged as human speech rather than being forced into a species.
  • The journal is a field notebook rather than a feed: confirmed species, rejected identifications, soundscape notes, and a timeline when several birds overlap.

Honest limits

BirdHere reports what it cannot tell you rather than filling the gap with a confident guess.

  • BirdHere can be wrong and is not a substitute for expert confirmation.
  • Recognition depends on the installed regional pack.
  • Species photographs are opt-in, restricted to CC0, CC BY and CC BY-SA images, always shown with attribution, and some species have no eligible image.
  • Continuous Live Listen, audio and video import, the full candidate list, saved audio and CSV export require World Pass.

Questions

How long does BirdHere need to listen?

Quick ID uses a twelve-second passage and is unlimited on the free tier. Continuous Live Listen, for dawn chorus work, is part of World Pass.

Can I import a recording I already made?

Audio and video import is included in World Pass.

Does it work in my language?

The interface and standardised names are available in English, Polish, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese and Italian.

What does World Pass cost?

It is a single purchase rather than a subscription. Apple sets and localises the price by storefront.

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