"We generally know birds' calls lie between a certain frequency and we know they repeat calls. Our program looks for sounds within a certain frequency range, of a certain duration and has to repeat itself," says Wimmer.
However he says the final determination of bird species is done by volunteers, known as citizen scientists.
"We post the audio segments our software has identified as containing potential species online and ask the birdwatching community to have a go at telling us what they are."
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