How accurate is Birdsong's bird identifier?

It runs Google's Perch, a research-grade acoustic model covering nearly 15,000 species. When a call is ambiguous, we say so honestly and let you record a second clip to confirm, rather than guessing.

Is my recording stored?

No. Your audio is used to identify the bird in the moment and isn't saved to our servers. The birds you confirm are kept as cards in your own field journal; the recordings themselves are not.

Is the bird identifier free?

Yes — identify birds every day for free, no account required. Birdsong Pro ($3.99/mo or $39.99/yr) unlocks unlimited IDs, full field guides, your growing collection, and shareable Field Report cards.

Do I need an account or internet to identify a bird?

You'll need a connection to identify, since the AI runs in the cloud. No account is needed to try it — sign in with Google or email to save your field journal and sync it across devices.

Birdsong field guide

Great Blue Heron

Ardea herodias

The Great Blue Heron is North America's largest heron, characterized by its impressive stature, blue-gray plumage, and patient, statuesque hunting posture. It is a highly adaptable apex predator found across a wide variety of aquatic environments.

What it sounds like

A harsh, low-pitched, guttural squawk or croak, often transliterated as a prehistoric-sounding 'fraaank'.

Reference call, compare with what you heard

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Rec. Greg Irving · United StatesCC BY-NC-SA Xeno-canto

Field notes

It possesses specialized 'powder down' feathers which it crushes with a serrated middle claw to help clean fish slime and oils from its plumage.
The bird's S-shaped neck contains modified vertebrae that allow it to strike at prey with lightning speed using a spring-like mechanism.
Despite their large appearance and wingspan of up to 6.6 feet, adults typically weigh only 5 to 6 pounds due to their hollow bones.
They are highly opportunistic hunters known to occasionally consume land animals such as gophers, squirrels, and small birds.
They primarily nest in communal colonies called heronries, which can sometimes host hundreds of nests in a single grove of trees.

Habitat

Freshwater and saltwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lake edges, flooded meadows, and coastal shorelines.

Range

Widely distributed across North America, extending from southern Canada to the Caribbean and parts of Central America.

Similar & commonly confused birds

Black-headed HeronArdea melanocephala Cocoi HeronArdea cocoi Eastern Cattle-EgretArdea coromanda Goliath HeronArdea goliath Gray HeronArdea cinerea Great EgretArdea alba Great-billed HeronArdea sumatrana Humblot's HeronArdea humbloti

Heard a Great Blue Heron?

Open Birdsong, tap record, and identify the bird singing near you in seconds — then collect it in your field journal.

Identify a bird by its song