Learn Bird Watching—Larkwire

Separates the birds by habitat: Urban, forest, field l, backyard. That’s very helpful narrowing down when you’ll hear the bird. Also listening to four distinct birds at one time is just the right amount to practice hearing their special songs and separating the birds from one another.

I’d always struggled to learn bird song and this app with it’s gamified learning finally did the trick and I enjoyed the learning.

I purchased Larkwire many years ago and thoroughly enjoy it. Within each module (e.g., landbirds of different regions and water birds…), birds are presented into groups of four similar sounding songs at a time. You match the song/call to the correct bird, while the songs are randomly played on repeat for five cycles each. There can be variation in the clips played for each bird to keep you on your toes and learn vocal variation. There is a lot of opportunity for customization. Intuitive design. If you are returning to Larkwire after a long break, like me, be aware that app has been updated and improved. If you don’t have access to a module that you previously purchased, they will honor your purchase by providing a coupon code. The customer service is outstanding.

While I still view the original apps as superior, that’s because the screen was uncluttered. One may argue, you can now change through groups while playing more easily. This puts the group lists on the left 1/3 of the screen when in landscape mode (a settings feature), instead of that being taken up in full by the game in progress. But the functionality is back and I’m not sure if there was an update restoring functionality, or if it just was not functioning on my iPhone 11 (since I recently upgraded to a 15 and tried the app again). I quickly progressed to the intermediate level of the Eastern Region birds, passing the spot I was stuck at in the previous review. After reviewing the app again, I’d say you can actually learn the birds by sight using this version of the app too, just perhaps not as quickly. There’s simply no other app like it out there, which means the app wouldn’t have to be as great as it is to gain sales, but the app developer cares about his app. ****** (Older review - oct23) When this app was two apps for 2.99 each, it was actually worth the $45. Now, not so much. Its just not functioning (besides the fact that the design and usability was far better before). For one, it has four buttons to progress: ‘wrong’, ‘too’, ‘hard, ‘good’, and ‘too easy’. So, you have to look at the buttons, instead of the bird picture as its revealed in field view. So you used to be able to visually memorize the bird with repetition and without even trying. While youd think four buttons means better accuracy with the spaced repetition and thus better efficiency, the opposite is true. The original apps were more efficient and with only two buttons, you could not focus on the bird pictures and not the buttons. Secondly, you used to play a round in gallery which means youre choosing between four bird pictures and sounds. Then youd progress to field view for those same birds which means it would play a sound without a picture and after you hit ‘not sure’ or ‘know,’ it would reveal the bird. Then you could learn another set of gallery view. It doesnt do this anymore. It goes from gallery to gallery which means you dont learn as well because by the time you enter a field game, youve semi-learned twenty or more birds in gallery. (You dont learn as well in gallery because youre always choosing from an unchanging group of four at a time with pictures, instead of four, then 8, then 12, then 16, etc without a picture). Third, when learning at a level (beginner, i

Very effective at cementing the birds in your brain. Using the extra practice feature helps. It is best not to do too much in one session or you can get frustrated. I like the Daily Bird.

It has so many fun games to play. It grate for beginners like me at bird and it even good for little kid as well.

Thank God a group of birders that are aware of the latest neuroscience developed this app! I have been using the app for less then a week and the results are incredible! After I read the book fluent forever about language acquisition, I had been wishing for the ability to apply it to bird language. I have no programming skills and was trying to us chat gpt to make something that would have been of far far inferior quality. The gross repetition of the gallery option helps you be able to differentiate and hear sounds that you have never heard before. The constant instant feed back of right or wrong next to similar sounding birds helps your brain differentiate the sounds. Then you use spaced repetition to help absorb the call deep into your memory. It works by playing you bird calls over spaced intervals right at about the time you would forget them. That time when you are about to forget, Neuroscientists have discoverd, is when your brain is most able to absorb the memory more deeply. I am so excited to walk outside in the spring and know who is singing!

To my knowledge the absolute best resource for learning bird calls. The most powerful tool is the ability to make your own playlists of similar calls. The program will than quiz you by playing them in random order.

I'd say I love this app -- though the price is a bit too high. Memorizing the bird song patterns is always hard to me. I'm wondering if we can add bird song in the Visual part of the courses -- I mean, like, when clicking an image in the field quiz, play the bird song. That would greatly help us memorize the songs while browsing though photos

Best app i have come across for learning to audibly identify birds. As a field biologist this app has been a game changer and is often what i recommend for anyone working point count jobs. The variety of learning styles is an added bonus that makes the app more approachable for a diverse set of learners as well as varying it up when one method gets old.