A bird song guessing game, with visualisations showing the sounds of British birds

Dawn Chorus Quest

An interactive, accessible, guessing game about British bird song

I made Dawn Chorus Quest, to cherish and learn about British bird songs and understand the how the sound of daybreak is changing.

It’s a game inspired by international dawn chorus day, Bath Digital Festival Buildathon, Douglas Adam’s ‘Last Chance to See,’ and bird song visualisations by Lucio Arese. It’s about the shifting baseline of the dawn chorus, and how our perception of the richness and variety of natural soundscapes is diminished as habitats and species are in decline.

Click to play: Dawn-Chorus-Quest.lovable.app

I am chuffed to say that this game won ‘best app’ at the Buildathon.

Watch this video to see how the game works, and read on for inspirations, data sources and technical info.

Dawn Chorus Quest is about identifying British birdsong, the history of British bird populations, and the potential for a brighter future for birds.

A time travel journey through the dawn chorus.

We have spent the last few centuries “extracting value” from nature, but in the process we accidentally muted the morning. We are now in the awkward position of needing a digital device to remind us what a good morning should actually sound like.

Listen to the dawn chorus. Identify the bird song. Understand the trends.

Dawn Chorus Quest was built on the generosity of open data, the creativity of artists and authors, and those enthusiastic people who get up before sunrise to record birdsong.

Our quest is to celebrate the beauty of the birdsong we have left, and begin to bring back the rich, chaotic symphony of the past.

Play the quest. Share the story. Reunite the chorus.

Inspirations

Bath Digital Festival Buildathon

The game was first conceived on International Dawn Chorus Day 2026, and the prototype was built at the Bath Digital Festival buildathon, an evening of experimenting with ideas and app building AI tools.

Huge thanks to Tim Robinson and Rita Lazaro, who sat with me, shared encouragement, ideas and enthusiasm.

Lucio Arese — Seeing Birdsong

Lucio Arese’s generative visualisations of birdsong showed me that a bird song can be heard with the eyes as well as the ears. The waveform and particle trail in this game owe a great deal to that insight.

Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine — Last Chance to See

The wry, affectionate tone of Douglas Adams’ nature travelogue runs through every fact and description in this app. If you have not read Last Chance to See, you are in for a treat — and a useful reminder that the world is still full of extraordinary things we are in danger of taking for granted.

About the creator

Jenny Macdonald

Dawn Chorus Quest was developed by Jenny Macdonald in May 2026, inspired by International Dawn Chorus Day. Her aim is to help more people notice, enjoy and protect the birds that still sing around us.

Data & media sources

  • Bird songs — every audio clip is from Wikimedia Commons, contributed by recordists under free licences. We are grateful to the community of naturalists who upload their field recordings for everyone to hear.
  • Bird photographs — all images are also from Wikimedia Commons, credited to the talented photographers who shared them under Creative Commons licences.
  • Population data — the long-term decline narrative draws on monitoring by the RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology. Their volunteer surveys are the closest thing British birdlife has to a continuous heartbeat.
  • Species information — names, taxonomy and natural history pointers are drawn from Wikipedia, the greatest collaborative reference work ever assembled.

Built with

Design & development — This game was designed and built with the help of Lovable, the AI software engineering platform, and Green PT AI, whose guidance shaped the conservation narrative and the overall direction of the project.

Thanks and feedback 🙂

Thanks for playing — please send your feedback about this app. Thank you to every birder who uploads a recording, every photographer who shares a sharp portrait, and every volunteer who counts nests in the rain. The chorus belongs to all of us.

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