By Andrew Liszewski
At first glance, this Bird Song Identifier seems like it would be a great addition to any bird watcher’s kit. The device itself is about the size of a large highlighter, and works as a scanner for the included 54 page book. You simply scan the barcode for a particular bird, and you’ll hear a digital recording of its song played back through a small speaker. But while it might come in handy if you’re curious what a Sparrow sounds like, it’s almost completely useless for identifying a song you hear in the wild. Unless of course you’re willing to sit there and scan through 206 different birds until you hear the one that matches.
So as a learning tool for recognizing different calls by ear, it’s probably got some merit, but if you’re hoping to identify a bird simply by its call, you’ll want to get something like the Song Sleuth Birdsong Detective we wrote about a few years ago.
You can find the Bird Song Identifier at SkyMall for $99.95.
