SongLark
Free on Google Play
Know every bird by ear.
You already hear them every morning. SongLark turns those calls into birds you can name, with three-minute daily lessons built on real field recordings rather than flashcards of photos.
Your first course is free, with no ads.
How it works
Ten lessons in, you will pick calls out of the dawn chorus.
SongLark is a course, not a soundboard. Each lesson introduces a few birds, then keeps bringing them back at exactly the moment you are about to forget them.
Pick your patch
Choose the course for where you live, from Sydney to San Francisco to Chiang Mai. You only learn birds you can actually hear from your back door.
Listen and answer
A call plays. You pick the bird. Three or four new species per lesson, mixed with the ones you have already met, so the answers never come from elimination.
Come back tomorrow
Every bird you meet gets a review date. Get one right and it slides further away; miss it and it comes back tomorrow. Three minutes a day is the whole commitment.
Courses
Pick your region
Each course teaches the birds you can actually hear where you live. See every bird in a course before you start.
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Birds of New South Wales49 birds · Australia
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Birds of Victoria48 birds · Australia
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Birds of Southeast QLD48 birds · Australia
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Birds of Western Australia47 birds · Australia
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Birds of the North Island48 birds · New Zealand
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Birds of California88 birds · United States
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Birds of Northern Thailand50 birds · Thailand
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Birds of Central & Southern Thailand53 birds · Thailand
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Birds of England55 birds · United Kingdom
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Birds of the Pacific Northwest54 birds · United States
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Birds of Eastern North America65 birds · United States
Course photographs: Laughing Kookaburra: Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová (CC BY 4.0). Gang-gang Cockatoo: ianrainbow (CC BY 4.0). Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo: Kym Nicolson (CC BY 4.0). Tui: dianne_and_gordon_purdie (CC0 1.0). California Quail: William Harland (CC BY 4.0). Red-billed Blue-Magpie: Don Wellmann (CC0 1.0). Collared Kingfisher: Griha Hasanov (CC BY 4.0). European Robin: Dave (CC BY 4.0). Varied Thrush: Ben (CC0 1.0). Northern Cardinal: Michael (CC BY 4.0).
Listen
Popular bird calls
Listen to the calls of some of the birds SongLark teaches most often.
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Hear the House Sparrow callMonotonous cheeping and chirping around buildings.
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Hear the Common Myna callBubbling, chattering medley of squawks and gurgles.
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Hear the Australian Magpie callFluty, warbling phrases; often daytime chorus.
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Hear the Silvereye callWarbling, tinkling song and thin 'tsee' contact calls.
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Hear the Spotted Dove callGentle repeated 'coo-coo-croook'.
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Hear the Laughing Kookaburra call
Famous rolling laughter, often in groups.
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Hear the Rainbow Lorikeet callContinuous screeching chatter, very loud in flocks.
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Hear the Willie Wagtail callScolding 'chit-chit' and sweet descending song at dawn.
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Hear the Magpie-lark callLoud, repeated 'pee-o-wit' often in duet.
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Hear the Galah callHigh-pitched 'chi-chi' screeches, often from flocks.
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Hear the Red Wattlebird callHarsh, coughing 'yak-a-yak' and raucous chacking.
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Hear the New Holland Honeyeater callBusy, chittering twitter with sharp metallic notes.
Get SongLark
Start your first lesson today
SongLark is out on Google Play. Install it, sign in, and choose the course for where you live. Your first course is free.
- On Android? Install it from Google Play and sign in with Google.
- On iPhone? SongLark is coming soon to the App Store.
- One account, every device. Your progress syncs, so you can switch between devices.
- Every message is read. There is a feedback button in the app, and at this size every message is read by the person who builds it.
Questions
Frequently asked
How much does SongLark cost?
Your first course is free, and there are no ads. You choose it when you first sign in.
Which phones can run SongLark?
On Android, install SongLark from Google Play. On iPhone, SongLark is coming soon to the App Store. It is the same account on both, so your progress follows you between devices.
Do I need to know anything about birds already?
No. Every course starts with the loudest, most common backyard birds and adds three or four new species per lesson, reviewing earlier ones as you go.
Which birds does SongLark teach?
350+ species so far, across ten courses: New South Wales, Victoria, Southeast Queensland, Western Australia, New Zealand's North Island, California, the Pacific Northwest, England, Northern Thailand and Central and Southern Thailand. Each course has six to ten levels and 22 to 40 lessons, from backyard regulars to forest, water and night birds. See every course.
Does SongLark identify a bird I record myself?
No. That is the opposite of what SongLark does. Rather than having an app name the bird for you, SongLark trains your own ear so you can name it yourself.
How long does a lesson take?
About three minutes. A lesson opens with a short review of the calls you are due to forget, then introduces three or four new birds.