While global news is filled with political debates, in Belarus, they're listening to birdsong. Last Saturday, during prime time on the First Information Channel's final program, they featured a development by scientists at the Joint Institute for Informatics Problems of the National Academy of Sciences – a mobile app that identifies the "performers" in the polyphony of bird songs.

Olga Dydo, Head of the Intelligent Services Department at the Joint Institute for Informatics Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, says the project addresses several issues at once: from popularizing birdwatching to creating a large-scale database for environmental monitoring and biodiversity conservation.

The app's technological foundation is a trained neural network. Users simply start recording on their smartphone while walking in the forest or park. The algorithm analyzes the sound wave, removes background wind or foliage noise, converts it into a stereogram, and compares it with reference recordings in the database.

Currently, the system reliably identifies the calls of 116 songbird species. This list includes the most common inhabitants of Belarusian forests. The app doesn't just list the species name. It opens a bird profile with background information. No more guessing whether that shrill whistle outside your window is a chaffinch or a starling. Now you can know for sure.