BirdNET is an Android application that allows you to identify birds by recording and analyzing their songs. This utility uses neural networks and AI to recognize more than 3 thousand bird species.
Start
This research project allows exploring machine learning possibilities in regard of identifying birdsongs. To start using this app you have to grant several permissions, including your current location and recording audio.
The developers’ team claims that the app requires your location to identify birds that might only be a fraction native in your area.
Recording
To start recording you can simply press the Mic button. Then you will see a visualization of the recorded sound in the spectrogram view. Audio quality varies for each device. In addition, you may select a different input source from the Settings menu to change the quality.
You have to press the Pause button to stop the recording. Then you may select an interval by drawing a box in the spectrogram view. After selecting the portion of the audio file, you can send the piece to the BirdNET servers by pressing the Analyse button. The results usually appear in a few minutes.
Processing
Please note that according to the about section, the audio files are analyzed in Chemnitz, Germany. Therefore, the utility submits the selected portions of the recordings to the BirdNET server.
The developers claim that the recordings are used for research purposes only. However, it is not recommended to analyze audio files that might contain personal data.
Features
- allows to analyze and identify bird songs and species;
- it is possible to submit the recordings for research purposes;
- there is an option to change the input source in the settings;
- available on Play Store;
- app is free to use and download;
- compatible with current Android versions.
