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bird call recognition app.

To: Michael Hunter <>
Subject: bird call recognition app.
From: Charles <>
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 23:49:56 +0800
Hi Michael,

Worth noting is that SHAZAM cannot decipher / translate live music or a person 
singing the song into their phone / the application. Even if they have a good 
voice very similar to the original artist. However I believe there is an app 
that claims to be able to do this.

If the song is not in their (SHAZAM) database it can't be picked up.....

I've tried singing into the phone a couple of times and it doesn't work.

Specifically in relation to birds, getting the speaker device close to the bird 
calling could also be a challenge in many instances?

I haven't read this email thread so apologies if I'm repeating the thoughts of 
others.

Cheers,
Charles Hunter

> On 17 Oct 2014, at 10:42 am, "Michael Hunter" <> 
> wrote:
> 
> Thankyou for all the replies to my enquiry about bird call recognition apps., 
> all of which answered in the negative, for the time being at least
> 
> The most erudite reply (Paul Dodd) did give some hope, the University of 
> Wisconsin has a project called “WeBird” , incorporating sophisticated 
> averaging, but requiring enormous computing power, multiple servers, and a 
> huge memory bank of calls. Paul didn’t say whether this included Australian 
> species. 
> 
> “Shazam” music recognition is remarkable, but is poor on the classics as 
> Martin Butterfield notes. Must try it on “The Nightingale”.  He also thinks 
> that maybe an 80% recognition rate for birds should be relatively easy to 
> achieve on a dedicated app.
> 
> Maybe Fred van Gessel could get the “wetware between his ears” (thanks Carl), 
> and his tapes, into an Oz memory bank . Surely the common calls would be easy 
> enough to recognise.  I originally asked the app question after racking my 
> own wetware for days after hearing a Jacky Winter call at Gundy different to 
> the repertoire of my local Mulgoa family. Eventually saw the caller. Checked 
> on the PKBirds app, where it is listed, very strangely, under    “Winter  
> Jacky”.    (What happened to  “ Flycatcher Brown”,  not catchy enough? )   
> The calls recorded there were similar but different to those at Gundy 
> confirming that recording all the possibilities for all the birds would be a 
> giant job.  Particularly as about half  our songbirds indulge in mimicry from 
> time to time.
> 
>               Cheers
> 
>                    Michael
> 
> 
> 
> 
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