Bird sound ID in early spring (2 sessions, Wednesdays 7pm)

Blue Tit by Liz Cutting/BTO
Level
Beginner/Improver
Presenter
Nick Moran, Jenny Donelan, Rob Jaques
Date
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 19:00 to Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 19:00
Places
Places available
Book places online

Learn to recognise common garden and woodland birds in early spring by their songs and calls

Bird sound ID involves two interactive online sessions of about two hours each, complemented by supported self-study exercises. We place a strong emphasis on providing you with tools and techniques to help you to continue learning to identify birds by sound after the course.

In order to participate you will need:

  • broadband of sufficient speed to view live video

  • a computer with sound and ideally a webcam, or a tablet / smartphone

  • good headphones or speakers that don’t automatically filter out high-pitched sounds

CONTENT:
Please note that Bird sound ID includes largely the same sound-related content as the Bird ID course that we ran during 2021–24.

The two sessions will cover the following:

SESSION 1: Wednesday 26 March, 7–9pm
An overview of the differences between songs and calls, followed by an interactive workshop to introduce and embed our ‘Describe–Visualise–Memorise’ approach to recognising and remembering bird sounds. Species covered in this session will include Robin, Wren, Dunnock and some of the common woodland thrushes, finches and tits. 

SESSION 2: Wednesday 2 April, 7–9pm
After reviewing the self-study activities and some of the concepts covered in the first session, we will help you hone your auditory ID skills by listening to some additional species, including Goldcrest and Treecreeper.

Across the two sessions, we will explore ways you can continue developing your auditory ID skills beyond the course, and briefly introduce two opportunities to participate in BTO projects: Garden BirdWatch and BirdTrack. We will also discuss the use of ‘auto-ID’ apps, particularly Merlin Bird ID, and other tools that can support your learning.

PRESENTERS: This course will be led by BTO staff Nick Moran, Jenny Donelan and Rob Jaques, all experienced birders, surveyors and trainers.

COST AND ATTENDANCE: The programme of two weekly online sessions and supported self-study exercises costs £24. There's an option to add a donation if you wish to further support the work of the BTO and are able to do so. If the cost is prohibitive, there is also a pricing option for those on lower incomes.

Participants are strongly encouraged to attend both live sessions to get maximum benefit, though recordings of the sessions are circulated afterwards, should you miss either of them.

After booking you should receive an automatic confirmation email. If this doesn’t arrive, please check your spam / junk email folder and if it is not there, or you have any other questions or booking issues, please email us at training [at] bto.org.