By the Sound of It

Birds are calling, and smart phones are helping us receive the message.

For bird-watchers, one of the most useful skills to have is the ability to identify birds by sound, but it's not an easy thing to do. To develop this skill, people are turning to smart phone applications.

Several apps exist for training to make sound identifications, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has rated them according to ease of use, audio content, expert help, and fun. For more information, click here. Below the ratings, the lab goes on to discuss other apps that help with identification.

Think of the sound training apps as caller ID for calls from the avian area code.