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

Leach's Storm-Petrel

Hydrobates leucorhous

A small, secretive pelagic seabird characterized by its erratic, nighthawk-like flight and deeply forked tail. It spends the vast majority of its life far offshore, returning to land only to breed on remote, predator-free islands.

What it sounds like

A rhythmic, staccato series of chuckling and purring notes, often transcribed as 'wick-a-wick-oo', primarily heard at night on breeding grounds.

Reference call, compare with what you heard

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Rec. David Boyle · New ZealandCC BY-NC-SA Xeno-canto

Field notes

They possess a highly developed sense of smell used to navigate back to their specific nesting burrows in total darkness.
Remarkably long-lived for their size, some individuals have been documented living for more than 35 years.
They are strictly nocturnal at breeding colonies to avoid predation by gulls and skuas.
Like other tube-noses, they have a specialized salt gland that allows them to drink seawater and excrete excess salt through their nostrils.
Their plumage has a distinct, musky odor that is so strong it can be used by researchers to locate active nesting colonies.

Habitat

Pelagic open ocean; nests in underground burrows or rock crevices on remote offshore islands.

Range

Widespread across the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, wintering in tropical waters.

Similar & commonly confused birds

Ainley's Storm-PetrelHydrobates cheimomnestes Ashy Storm-PetrelHydrobates homochroa Band-rumped Storm-PetrelHydrobates castro Black Storm-PetrelHydrobates melania Cape Verde Storm-PetrelHydrobates jabejabe European Storm-PetrelHydrobates pelagicus Fork-tailed Storm-PetrelHydrobates furcatus Guadalupe Storm-PetrelHydrobates macrodactylus

Heard a Leach's Storm-Petrel?

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