What is Birdle?
Birdle is a bird identification game that shows you photographs and a range map of one species each day. You get six guesses to name it. Every guess is scored using scientific taxonomy: the board tells you whether your answer shares the target's order, family, or genus. Photos and range data come from eBird and the Macaulay Library. A globe menu lets you switch the daily bird between worldwide and regional pools.
How to play Birdle
- Type a species name into the guess box and submit.
- Check the feedback row to see which taxonomic ranks match the target bird.
- Step through multiple photos using the arrows and open the range map when needed.
- Keep guessing up to six times until you identify the species or run out of attempts.
Who Birdle is for
Birdle is built for people who already know bird families: birders, biology students, anyone with an eBird account. The feedback only helps if terms like "Anseriformes" or "Tytonidae" are meaningful to you. For everyone else, six guesses against a world list is closer to a lottery than a puzzle. Regional dailies make the game more tractable by narrowing the field. The photos and range maps come directly from eBird and the Macaulay Library, so the identification work is the real thing rather than a stylized version.
Reading the feedback
Each guess adds a row under four headings: Order, Family, Genus, Common Name. The row marks which of those ranks your guess shares with the bird of the day. A matching Family means you have the right group but the wrong species within it.
Modes
Daily bird
One species a day, the same for everyone playing the same region, with six guesses.
Regional dailies
The globe menu swaps the daily between World and other regions.
Practice
Unlimited rounds outside the daily, reached from the Practice link in the top bar.
Tips for a better guess
Open the range map before you commit. It eliminates whole continents in one look and saves you from guessing species that do not occur in the shown range.
Spend the first guess on a species chosen to test an order rather than on your actual hunch. Matching the order rules out far more of the field than a near miss on the common name. A strategic first guess gives you better information for the remaining attempts.
Do I have to know the scientific name?
No. The fourth column is the common name; the other three are the taxonomic ranks the board uses to score your guess. You can type common names and the game will recognize them.