I’m pretty new to birding and can recognize birds by sight pretty well, I mainly struggle with calls. How have you guys learned bird calls? Are there any websites or resources that have helped you learn? Anything helps!

https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/learning-bird-songs/ 58 replies

I’d say merlin :slight_smile: you can listen to bords songs there, and it has a recognition tool too. Could be a good start !

Post some calls as observations on iNat and see if anyone can identify them. Before joining iNat, I knew the calls of the whippoorwill and the chuck-will’s-widow, and I recognized the local crow as a crow, but did not know the sound of the blue jay. I posted a bird call and someone identified it as …

[image] The suggestions in the book include: [image]

Merlin is a free app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. You can use it two ways: If you are outside listening to birds, and you want to identify what you are hearing, you make a sound recording and it gives you suggestions (you have to download the info. packet for your region of the world) If y…

Come to the realization that I have to re-learn the migrant calls every Spring. Comes quicker over time, but I rarely remember the first time I hear it in the Spring. I will say sometimes my first guess is right more each year. Almost like I remember at least one additional each year.

I used to have a CD of bird songs I’d listen to before doing a bird survey to refresh my memory of expected species in the area. It’s easy to forget calls if you haven’t heard them in a while, and a lot of songs are similar enough to be confusing. This was before Merlin came along and now I’m just…

[image] oksanaetal: the bird song course from Bird Academy of the Cornell Lab was thoroughly useless for me Why? What was useless about it, and what would you change? (I know nothing about this topic, but I am interested in getting the public engaged in nature)

It just taught me a few songs of birds that I don’t hear too much (some don’t even live in my area, which makes sense, since why the heck would it be tailored to my area), and I think just being out and looking for the sources of birdsongs was way more helpful.

Best way to learn to recognize bird calls?

Nature Talk

oksanaetal December 29, 2025, 5:29pm 8

A warning: the bird song course from Bird Academy of the Cornell Lab was thoroughly useless for me, unlike most of their courses.

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Best way to learn to recognize bird calls?

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