RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Thanks to smartphones, you rarely have to strain anymore to remember the name of a song. Start up a phone app. Hold your device by the radio or a restaurant speaker. And the app will usually recognize the song.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Now NPR News can offer a similar service for sounds from nature. Think about the sounds in your backyard.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Crickets, I think.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Oh, some kind of dog - maybe coyotes.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Well, how about this one?</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: That's some backyard you've got there, Renee.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Whatever you hear, we can help you identify it.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Next time you're in your backyard, take out your smartphone or some other recording device, and capture the sound of the animals.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Send the file to nprcrowdsource@npr.org, and use the subject line, Decoding Nature. That's the name of our new series with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Scientists will identify the exact species of animal you are hearing. You need to include your full name and where you live.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: And to learn more about the project, follow the hash tag, #decodenature on Twitter.
Morning Edition seeks the sounds of animals from listeners' backyards for a new series about decoding nature. Scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology will help identify animals in the recordings.