SongLark

Australia

Learn the bird calls of Western Australia.

SongLark teaches you to name 47 birds of Western Australia 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.

Get it on Google Play Coming soon to the App Store

Your first course is free, with no ads.

47 birds
6 levels
22 lessons

The course

The 47 birds of Western Australia 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.

Common birds you will hear in Western Australia: Australian Magpie call, Laughing Kookaburra call, Rainbow Lorikeet call, Willie Wagtail call and Red Wattlebird call.

Level 1: Perth Backyard

The birds you hear every day. 9 birds, 4 lessons.

  • Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen

    Fluty, warbling phrases; often daytime chorus.

  • Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae

    Famous rolling laughter, often in groups.

  • Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus

    Continuous screeching chatter, very loud in flocks.

  • Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys

    Scolding 'chit-chit' and sweet descending song at dawn.

  • Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata

    Harsh, coughing 'yak-a-yak' and raucous chacking.

  • Singing Honeyeater Gavicalis virescens

    Loud, rolling 'prrip-prrip' and rich warbles; a grey-brown honeyeater with a black eye-stripe.

  • Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca

    Loud, repeated 'pee-o-wit' often in duet.

  • Australian Raven Corvus coronoides

    Drawn-out, descending wailing 'aaah-aaah-aaaaah'.

  • Spotted Dove Spilopelia chinensis

    Gentle repeated 'coo-coo-croook'.

Level 2: Black-Cockatoos & Parrots

Loud, wailing and hard to miss. 6 birds, 3 lessons.

  • Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo Zanda latirostris

    Drawn-out, wailing 'wee-lah' from flocks flying over; white tail panels.

  • Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii

    Harsh, rolling 'krurr' contact calls, rougher than Carnaby's; red tail panels on males.

  • Galah Eolophus roseicapilla

    High-pitched 'chi-chi' screeches, often from flocks.

  • Australian Ringneck Barnardius zonarius

    Sharp, ringing 'kling-kling'; in the south-west, the 'twenty-eight' call it is named for.

  • Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea

    Raucous, screeching, quavering flock calls.

  • Long-billed Corella Cacatua tenuirostris

    Harsh, wavering screeches and a distinctive rising 'currup'.

Level 3: Honeyeaters & Small Birds

Busy voices in the banksias. 9 birds, 4 lessons.

  • New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae

    Busy, chittering twitter with sharp metallic notes.

  • Brown Honeyeater Lichmera indistincta

    A small, plain bird with a big voice: loud, quick, sweet runs of notes.

  • White-cheeked Honeyeater Phylidonyris niger

    Bright 'chip-chip' and a rising 'twee-ee-ip'; a big white cheek patch.

  • Silvereye Zosterops lateralis

    Warbling, tinkling song and thin 'tsee' contact calls.

  • Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus

    Insistent repeated 'pick-it-up' double or triple notes.

  • Spotted Pardalote Pardalotus punctatus

    Repeated, soft, far-carrying 'sleep-may-bee' whistle.

  • House Sparrow Passer domesticus

    Monotonous cheeping and chirping around buildings.

  • Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena

    Twittering chattering warble; sharp 'seet' in flight.

  • Grey Fantail Rhipidura albiscapa

    Thin, tinkling, ascending sequence of high notes.

Level 4: Bush Songbirds

Gerygones, thornbills and whistlers. 9 birds, 4 lessons.

  • Western Gerygone Gerygone fusca

    A sweet, wandering, falling song that seems to trail away in mid-phrase.

  • Western Thornbill Acanthiza inornata

    Soft, sweet twitters and 'tchip' notes from small, plain flocks.

  • Inland Thornbill Acanthiza apicalis

    A loud, scolding 'tchip' and a sweet, quick warble; cocked tail.

  • Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris

    Australia's smallest bird with a loud, clear 'wee-bill' or 'sweet-pea' call.

  • Scarlet Robin Petroica boodang

    A thin, high, rattling trill, 'wee-cheedalee-dalee'; males have a scarlet breast.

  • Rufous Treecreeper Climacteris rufus

    Loud, sharp, repeated 'peet-peet-peet' from a bird spiralling up a trunk.

  • Golden Whistler Pachycephala pectoralis

    Rich rising whistles ending in a sharp whip-crack.

  • Grey Shrikethrush Colluricincla harmonica

    Mellow, musical piping phrases.

  • Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus

    Rich, piping fluty phrases delivered from a high perch.

Level 5: Lakes & Wetlands

Perth's lakes and reed beds. 8 birds, 4 lessons.

  • Australasian Swamphen Porphyrio melanotus

    Maori: pukeko. Loud harsh screeches and nasal shrieks from wetland edges.

  • Eurasian Coot Fulica atra

    A sharp, explosive 'kowk' or 'pik'; a black waterbird with a white face shield.

  • Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa

    A loud, abrupt 'krurk' and 'kik-kik'; a red-and-yellow bill on a dark bird.

  • Black Swan Cygnus atratus

    A far-carrying musical bugle, often from a flock on the water.

  • Australian White Ibis Threskiornis molucca

    Mostly silent; low croaks and grunts at colonies.

  • Australian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus australis

    A loud, rich, chattering 'chut-chut-chut, twee-twee' from reeds in spring.

  • Little Grassbird Poodytes gramineus

    A mournful, three-note whistle, 'tu-whee-whee', from dense reeds.

  • Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus

    Maori: kotare. A hard staccato kek-kek-kek from a wire or bare branch.

Level 6: Hidden Voices & the Night

South-west specialists and the bush after dark. 6 birds, 3 lessons.

  • Western Whipbird Psophodes nigrogularis

    A harsh, scratchy duet, 'it's-for-teacher', from deep coastal heath.

  • Noisy Scrub-bird Atrichornis clamosus

    Extremely loud, ringing, accelerating 'chip-chip-chip-CHIP' from dense thicket near Albany.

  • Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis

    A long, mournful, descending trill, repeated through the day in spring.

  • Australian Boobook Ninox boobook

    The classic two-note 'boo-book' of the night, repeated over and over.

  • Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides

    Low, repetitive soft 'oom-oom-oom' at night.

  • Australian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles cristatus

    A churring, rattling 'chirr-chirr' from a tree hollow after dark.

Test yourself: Western Australia bird call quiz

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 Western Australia.

Get SongLark

Start learning the birds of Western Australia today

Install SongLark, sign in, and choose Birds of Western Australia as your course. Your first course is free.

Get it on Google Play Coming soon to the App Store
  • 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.

Questions

Frequently asked

Which birds does the Western Australia course teach?

47 birds of Western Australia, in six levels: Perth Backyard, Black-Cockatoos & Parrots, Honeyeaters & Small Birds, Bush Songbirds, Lakes & Wetlands and Hidden Voices & the Night. It starts with Australian Magpie, Laughing Kookaburra and Rainbow Lorikeet. 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 Western Australia.

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, SongLark is coming soon to the App Store. It is the same account on both, 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.

Other regions

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