SongLark
Thailand
Learn the bird calls of Northern Thailand.
SongLark teaches you to name 50 birds of Northern Thailand by ear. Each lesson takes about three minutes and uses real field recordings, and every bird comes back for review just before you would forget it.
Your first course is free, with no ads. On iPhone, sign in to the web app in Safari.
The course
The 50 birds of Northern Thailand you will learn
The course starts with the birds you hear every day and works outwards, level by level. Each lesson introduces three or four of these birds by their calls.
Level 1: Town & Temple Garden
The birds of every northern street and wat. 9 birds, 4 lessons.
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Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
Flat chirps and a dry 'tchip' from eaves, wires and market stalls.
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Common Myna Acridotheres tristis
Bubbling, chattering medley of squawks and gurgles.
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Spotted Dove Spilopelia chinensis
Gentle repeated 'coo-coo-croook'.
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Zebra Dove Geopelia striata
A soft, bubbling, accelerating coo — the background sound of every Thai street.
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Oriental Magpie-Robin Copsychus saularis
Long rising and falling whistled phrases from a rooftop or bare branch.
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Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus
The rising 'ko-EL, ko-EL' that carries across town at dawn.
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Coppersmith Barbet Psilopogon haemacephalus
An endless metronomic 'tuk… tuk… tuk', like a hammer on copper.
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Black-collared Starling Gracupica nigricollis
Loud ringing whistles and chatter from open ground and playing fields.
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Great Myna Acridotheres grandis
Harsh chattering and whistles, usually from a flock behind grazing cattle.
Level 2: Village Edge & Orchard
Hedges, fruiting trees and the gardens behind them. 9 birds, 4 lessons.
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Common Tailorbird Orthotomus sutorius
A tireless loud 'cheeup-cheeup-cheeup' from deep inside a hedge.
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Streak-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus conradi
Dry, scratchy chattering notes — the default bulbul of Thai gardens.
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Sooty-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus aurigaster
Cheerful, chirpy phrases from an exposed perch on a village hedge.
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White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis
A laughing, descending rattle, often given from a wire far from water.
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Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis
A deep resonant series of 'hoop' notes, falling then rising in pitch.
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Plaintive Cuckoo Cacomantis merulinus
A sad descending whistled series, repeated over and over in the heat.
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Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker Dicaeum cruentatum
A hard 'tik tik' from a treetop, usually before you find the bird.
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Ornate Sunbird Cinnyris ornatus
Sharp metallic 'tsik' notes and a quick twittering song. Split from Olive-backed Sunbird.
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Common Iora Aegithina tiphia
A long drawn-out whistle that drops away, then a sharp 'chee-chip'.
Level 3: Paddy, Scrub & River Flat
Open country in the northern valleys. 9 birds, 4 lessons.
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Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus
Harsh grating notes and clipped whistles from a roadside wire.
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Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach
Harsh scolding chatter, with snatches of mimicry mixed in.
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Pied Bushchat Saxicola caprata
A short whistled song and a hard 'chek' from a fence post or stalk.
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Red-wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus
The shrill 'did-he-do-it' alarm, day or night.
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White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus
Loud repeated 'kruak' notes building into a raucous chorus at dusk.
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Paddyfield Pipit Anthus rufulus
A thin 'chip-chip' given in a bounding flight over open ground.
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Asian Green Bee-eater Merops orientalis
A soft rolling trill, endlessly repeated from a wire.
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Indochinese Roller Coracias affinis
Rasping crow-like notes, loudest during the tumbling display flight.
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Scaly-breasted Munia Lonchura punctulata
Thin nasal 'ki-dee' contact calls from a flock in the rice.
Level 4: Foothill Forest & Bamboo
Dry dipterocarp and bamboo below the ridges. 9 birds, 4 lessons.
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White-rumped Shama Copsychus malabaricus
Rich, varied, fluting phrases — the finest songster of the foothill forest.
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Puff-throated Babbler Pellorneum ruficeps
A sweet, hesitant whistled phrase from the leaf litter.
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Pin-striped Tit-Babbler Mixornis gularis
A monotonous 'chonk-chonk-chonk-chonk' repeated in long runs.
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Greater Racket-tailed Drongo Dicrurus paradiseus
An unpredictable mix of loud metallic notes and mimicry of everything else.
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Lineated Barbet Psilopogon lineatus
A rolling 'poo-tok, poo-tok' that goes on for minutes at a time.
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Blue-throated Barbet Psilopogon asiaticus
A fast, rhythmic 'took-a-rook, took-a-rook' from high in a fruiting tree.
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White-crested Laughingthrush Garrulax leucolophus
An explosive outbreak of cackling laughter from the whole flock at once.
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Red-billed Blue-Magpie Urocissa erythroryncha
A wild ringing whistle and a harsh grating rattle.
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Black-crested Bulbul Rubigula flaviventris
Bright, hurried whistled phrases from the mid-storey.
Level 5: Up the Doi
Montane evergreen forest on Doi Inthanon and Doi Suthep. 8 birds, 4 lessons.
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Great Barbet Psilopogon virens
A mournful 'pi-oo, pi-oo' repeated all day from a ridge top.
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Blue Whistling-Thrush Myophonus caeruleus
A rambling human-like whistle beside a mountain stream.
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Silver-eared Mesia Leiothrix argentauris
Bright ringing 'chi-chi-chu-chu' notes from a restless flock.
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Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher Culicicapa ceylonensis
A thin rising three-note whistle, often the first voice at altitude. eBird spells it Gray-headed.
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Black-throated Sunbird Aethopyga saturata
Sharp metallic chips and a fast tinkling song at the flowers.
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Asian Barred Owlet Glaucidium cuculoides
A bubbling 'whoo-whoo-whoo' given in daylight, mobbed by everything nearby.
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Silver-eared Laughingthrush Trochalopteron melanostigma
Loud, ringing, chattering phrases from dense hill-forest undergrowth.
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Mountain Bulbul Ixos mcclellandii
Nasal, squeaky notes from the canopy of evergreen hill forest.
Level 6: Night Voices & Hidden Cuckoos
The callers you hear far more often than you see. 6 birds, 3 lessons.
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Collared Scops-Owl Otus lettia
A single soft, frog-like 'poop' every ten seconds or so through the night.
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Spotted Owlet Athene brama
Chattering, squabbling notes from a temple tree at dusk.
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Large-tailed Nightjar Caprimulgus macrurus
A steady 'chonk chonk chonk', like an axe on wood, from forest edge.
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Green-billed Malkoha Phaenicophaeus tristis
A low croaking 'ko-ko-ko', mostly silent otherwise as it creeps through cover.
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Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomantis sonneratii
A clear four-note 'smoke-yer-pep-per' whistle, repeated for hours.
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Large Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides
The rising, maddening 'brain-fever' phrase, climbing in pitch and pace.
How it works
A course, not a soundboard.
Listen and answer
A call plays. You pick the bird. New species are mixed with the ones you have already met, so the answers never come from elimination.
Review at the right time
Every bird you meet gets a review date. Get one right and it slides further away; miss it and it comes back tomorrow.
Hear it outside
Three minutes a day is the whole commitment. Ten lessons in, you will pick calls out of the dawn chorus in Northern Thailand.
Get SongLark
Start learning the birds of Northern Thailand today
Install SongLark, sign in, and choose Birds of Northern Thailand as your course. Not on Android? The same app runs in your browser.
- On Android? Install it from Google Play and sign in with Google.
- On iPhone? Open the web app in Safari and sign in. Add it to your home screen and it opens like any other app.
- One account, every device. Your progress syncs, so you can switch between your phone and your browser.
Questions
Frequently asked
Which birds does the Northern Thailand course teach?
50 birds of Northern Thailand, in six levels: Town & Temple Garden, Village Edge & Orchard, Paddy, Scrub & River Flat, Foothill Forest & Bamboo, Up the Doi and Night Voices & Hidden Cuckoos. It starts with Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Common Myna and Spotted Dove. The full list is on this page.
Is the course free?
Yes, your first course is free and there are no ads. When you first sign in, you choose one course to keep. Choose Northern Thailand.
Do I need to know anything about birds already?
No. The course starts with the loudest, most common birds and adds three or four new species per lesson, reviewing earlier ones as you go.
Which phones can run SongLark?
On Android, install SongLark from Google Play. On iPhone, iPad or a computer, sign in to the web app at songlark.app/app. It is the same account, so your progress follows you between devices.
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.
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