First global public sound map of the spring dawn chorus

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Throughout May, people around the world have uploaded about 3,000 early morning bird recordings made on their phones to the Dawn Chorus website, where they are being shared to help conservation and to create public art. 

Early results shared with the Guardian reveal diverse wild symphonies – a red-wattled lapwing chirps through a local lockdown in Pune, India, and in Munich an enchanting flute-like call of the golden oriole is heard sending his melody across a park – but they also document losses.

Recordings from London show that the early rising birds start to perform in sequence. The first to start singing are blackbirds and robins, piping up at about 4.20am. Following them come woodpigeons, carrion crows, magpies and goldfinches, who in turn are followed by dunnocks, sparrows, blackcaps and parakeets. Meanwhile in Scarborough, squawking gulls conjure an evocative British seaside soundscape.

In Europe, the cuckoo, blackcap, wren and chiffchaff fly up the list.

“Little brown birds are relatively difficult to spot and distinguish visually, but easily detected by ear – and who doesn’t know what the cuckoo sounds like?” said Gill. “I believe most people identify birds by vision, which, as we can see, really influences the outcome.”

 

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/30/lockdown-yields-first-global-sound-map-spring-dawn-chorus-birds