"Why Birds Sing" Interactive

Project Description

The University of Iowa Museum of Natural History is the setting for our internationally acclaimed, award-winning educational exhibit that explores regional birds and their unique songs. “Why Birds Sing,” which was totally created and installed by Silver Oaks, is a freestanding, computer-based touchscreen interactive. It examines bird songs, provides information about the structure of the songs and illustrates through video clips how the calls correspond with distinct behaviors. Users are able to see the differences and complexity of the songs by viewing sonograms that depict the pitch, frequency and variation in the sound of various calls.

Using an interactive soundboard, visitors can create their own symphony of bird songs, playing as many as 30 bird calls simultaneously. In addition, they can challenge their knowledge with a bird call identifier game, where they match the species with their respective sound. Examples of unusual bird sounds are also highlighted, revealing bird calls that sound like a car alarm, rocks plunking in water or wolves howling.

Among other awards, “Why Birds Sing” received top honors from the London International Advertising Awards and Interactive of the Year from the National Association for Interpretation.