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asque2000

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Posts posted by asque2000

    Bird Songs/Calls Identifier Apps?

    in Birding Books, CDs, Courses, and Cool Products

    Posted

    On 4/18/2019 at 8:41 PM, Winter said:

    I can see another related issue is that a lot of the migratory songbirds within a species oftentimes have a similar “general sound” which  one can only differentiate by the presence of a slight shift in cadence, lilt, pace, and/or having a differing notes, etc.  I doubt a smartphone microphone can successfully differentiate this, especially as it inadvertently picks up all the other background noise like wind, airplanes, and anything else near it, easily obscuring a defining note or two.

    One neat thing about these apps is you can isolate the song. It will give you a spectrogram and you essentially drag the lines in so you eliminate most if not all of the background noise. This is a must because wind and traffic etc. really muddy up recordings. I have been impressed on how these apps do that and have been successful recording a cardinal or titmouse or something from a hundred yards away or more. If warblers are the challenge for you, these apps can still be useful in that you can record the spectogram and review it later if it doesn't get a match. The Warbler Guide actually has a very comprehensive spectrogram list for each species so you can limit to the birds likely in your area and which spectrogram closely matches. It's a considerable amount of work, but that is a possibility. For that I'd recommend BirdGenie as their spectrogram is far more detailed. 

     

     

    • Thanks 1

    Bird Songs/Calls Identifier Apps?

    in Birding Books, CDs, Courses, and Cool Products

    Posted

    There are not very many options. Song Sleuth was the first to market. It works ok but they only have ~200 species that are throughout North America, so it's really only going to work for your most recognized bird songs.  I've used it a bit and as you said it's "meh". The new contender is BirdGenie from the same guys who made the Warbler Guide.  It has many of the same features as Song Sleuth but has multiple songs/calls for about 100 species so far. With development you'll get more. That said I find it to be a bit buggy, and doesn't respond very well (but that will likely be fixed with updates).  The problem is that with bird songs/calls there is variation and/or "dialects" among species.  With Shazam you have good success because every time the particular song comes on, it's characteristics are 100% the same, making it a reliable app. Bird songs are not 100% the same every time a bird sings and that variation is incredibly hard to program. Best you can do is get a "likely species" which is why the apps give you a list of what the bird may be. Cool idea, but there is a long way to go in that development. 

    • Like 1

    Raptor, Pocatello ID

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, millipede said:

    I'm not going to argue the ID, in fact mostly support it. But I still say that I can't tell whats' what in the picture... I'm looking at this on a 20" monitor and have even zoomed in... if I look at what probably(actually) is the nape, I can then interpret head position. But I can't look at it and just tell that's the nape or which direction the head is facing.
    Maybe I'm just not good at looking at pictures with minimal or poor detail.

    Also consider head size and tail shape. That’s what made me think Golden at first

    Move Notes From ibird Ultimate to ibird Pro

    in Discuss iBird Apps

    Posted

    I don't know if this is too late to help, but I found that if you go to your "iCloud drive" on your computer and literally copy the selected "favorites" file from the Ultimate folder called "favorites" to the Pro file called "favorites" that worked for me. Same thing with the notes files just move them from the Ultimate folder to the Pro folder and everything transfers over fine. In fact, it even changed my "Gray Jay" favorite and note in Ultimate to "Canada Jay" in Pro. 

    Great Black Hawk in Biddeford Maine!

    in Photo Sharing and Discussion

    Great Black Hawk in Biddeford Maine!

    in Photo Sharing and Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/16/2018 at 4:21 PM, redcoot said:

    Wow! So this hawk has been moving around a lot!

    Yeah, unfortunately it's time has come... It was found on the ground barely alive a couple days ago. Rehabber noted it had frostbite on it's feet and possibly some other issues. We'll see what the fate is, there's a big debate if it recovers if it should be released in Maine, taken south, kept in a zoo/wildlife park, or euthanized. We'll see how it plays out. Bummer deal, but it lasted a LOT longer than expected here and this wasn't the first cold snap it went through. https://www.wmtw.com/article/maines-cold-climate-proves-too-much-for-rare-hawk/25979374

    • Like 2
    • Sad 1

    An oldie but a goodie

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted

    14 hours ago, Liam said:

    Yes, you're right, my apologies; and in this case that might be an element of lighting coupled with wear. The gray chest and contrasting white chin still look better for Cassin's.

    Awesome, thanks! That's what it was deemed the last time I posted it. I only brought it up again because there was a Western Kingbird spotted in Maine last week, and I needed the potential lifer boost to get the motivation to go out and get it, which I missed it by 1 day...

    Operation Migration Resigns From WCEP & Dissolves Organization

    in Birding News

    Posted

    Is it really politics? It seemed they acknowledged that their human-based rearing methods was resulting in Whooping Cranes that were not attending to their young as they should, thus resulting in a non-sustainable system. Teaching birds to migrate is one thing, but it's a part of a system and having birds be able to move is one thing but teaching them to be parents is another that they were not capable of.  

    Laughing Kookaburra?

    in Discuss iBird Apps

    Posted

    I saw a reddit post of an iBird screenshot of a Laughing Kookaburra in the North American iBird App.  I checked and sure enough it is in the species list of N. American birds on iBird Ultimate. Is this an easter egg or something? I mean it's an awesome bird don't get me wrong, I was just a little surprised to find it. 

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