Took me two hours just to identify a single bird call this morning

I heard this weird whistling noise at 5:30 AM near my backyard feeder and spent forever scrolling through bird call apps before I figured out it was a varied thrush. Has anyone else had a bird call stump them for way longer than it should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_roberts1d ago

Man that app took me 20 minutes once for a black-capped chickadee.

harperg7621h ago

Had a friend go through almost the same thing last spring. She was out in her backyard trying to get a white-breasted nuthatch and the app just kept spinning. She finally gave up and walked away to grab her coffee, left the phone sitting on the picnic table with the app still open and the camera pointed at the bird feeder. When she came back ten minutes later the bird was gone but the app had somehow picked up a mourning dove that wasn't even there anymore. She just laughed and deleted the whole recording.

the_amy22h ago

Have you tried just flipping your phone upside down? That worked for me when I was stuck on a bird once, I think the screen glare was messing with the camera. I was standing there for like 15 minutes with a Carolina wren that kept hopping around and the app just wouldn't pull it up. I finally turned my phone over and let the camera sit there for a few seconds, then flipped it back and it worked instantly. It felt super dumb but honestly sometimes the app gets confused with lighting or movement, so changing the angle really helps. Now whenever I'm stuck I just tilt the phone around or cover the lens for a second before trying again, saves me so much time.