Acknowledgements
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.
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
- TanStack Start — React framework
- Three.js — 3D particle visualisation
- Tailwind CSS — styling
- shadcn/ui — accessible components
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 :-)
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.