Buzz
Have you been hearing more birds chirping outside your window lately? Wherever you are, there’s likely a chirping friend nearby. If you want to challenge your bird knowledge—or just tune into the sounds of nature—give this easy quiz a try.
The quiz will prompt you to select your location (or a spot of your choice) and then play three bird calls from species that are common in your area, based on data from the birdwatching site eBird. (I had to pop on my noise-canceling headphones to focus, as I was also hearing real bird sounds from outside my window.)
You can keep guessing until you identify each bird correctly, aiming for a perfect score of 3 correct answers and 0 mistakes. I tried a few times, though I definitely missed a few rounds.
I've always had a love for birdwatching, but it wasn’t until I focused on their songs that I realized how many birds I could hear but never see. The song sparrow, for example, was almost invisible to me. They're small and brown, often confused with a female house sparrow or a house finch. But when I researched their calls a year or two ago—and yes, song sparrows are part of this quiz—I found out I’d been hearing them constantly. They sing a beautiful melody that's impossible to ignore, except, well, I had been doing exactly that.
Give this game a shot. If you're curious, you can explore bird calls on Cornell’s All About Birds website, or study them flashcard-style with an app like Chirp (iOS).
