My sister Carol told me that she wakes up every morning to nature’s chorus (birds singing) via a free app for iOS and Android called Dawn Chorus. I decided to test it out, and I love it. When my wife heard it she said, “I need to get that for my phone!” The alarms that come with Dawn Chorus are so much better than the chimes iPhone offers, which always wake me up and either put me in a bad mood or make my heartbeat rapidly.
The bird alarm clock was developed by Carnegie Museum of Natural History and The Innovation Studio. The artfully designed and simple app is, via Google Play, “a calming, nature-inspired alternative to your usual blaring alarm. When the alarm goes off, birds begin to appear in trees to create a chorus of song. Choose from 20 birds to create a custom alarm. All of the birds are native to the northeastern United States, and users can hear their calls and learn more about them on bird cards developed with museum scientists.
“Carnegie Museum of Natural History is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. The museum is an active research institution with an environmental research center in Rector, Pennsylvania called Powdermill Nature Reserve. The birds in this app were studied at the museum, are often banded at Powdermill, or are frequently impacted by window collisions—a phenomenon that the museum helps study and prevent as part of BirdSafe Pittsburgh.”
The alarm goes off for five minutes and will work when your phone is on silent (but always test it just to make sure). To snooze your alarm, you can just shake your phone, which I think is brilliant.
Related:
- An Android Alarm App That Wakes You Up Gently
- How to Make Sure You Never Sleep Through Your Alarm Again
