Darn Dawn Birds

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Five birds sing over each other at dawn somewhere on Earth. Name them by ear before the sun is up.

on thesunrise.org

Darn Dawn Birds title art: a dotted world map with a pin, a sunrise icon and photos of five birds

Darn Dawn Birds is a daily listening game. A pin drops on a real place, its local dawn chorus starts all at once, and you name the five birds hangman-style before the timer runs out. Everyone gets the same place and birds each day.

About Darn Dawn Birds

Darn Dawn Birds comes from The Sunrise, the makers of the Bird Rise alarm app, and was published on itch.io by Diegodotta in August 2026. Each morning a pin lands on a real place on a dotted world map, such as the Scottish Highlands, the Pantanal or a hillside in Japan, and five birds that actually live there start singing over each other like a real dawn chorus.

Each bird has a card with its name shown as blanks. Typing a single letter reveals it in every name at once, and typing a full name (or picking a suggestion) guesses that bird. A correct name silences it, so the chorus thins out as you go. A circular timer counts down, and silencing all five before it ends earns a speed bonus. As the clock runs low, blurred bird photos sharpen as a last hint.

The daily round is seeded so everyone plays the same place and birds, which makes it easy to compare with friends. Every bird you name is added to your Aviary, where you can replay its call and read about the species. Your streak and Aviary are kept on your device. The bird calls and photos come from the Bird Rise library.

The game runs in the browser on phones and desktops. On desktop you just type; on touch screens you tap to start and type to guess.

How to play Darn Dawn Birds

Open Darn Dawn Birds and start today's round to see where the pin has landed.
Listen to the five birds singing together and pick out one voice at a time.
Type a single letter to reveal it in every bird's name, or type a whole name to guess a bird.
Each correct bird stops singing; name all five before the timer runs out for a speed bonus.
Open your Aviary afterwards to replay the calls of the birds you have named.

Screenshots

Darn Dawn Birds round in the Yukon wilderness: a timer at 1:59, one bird named as White Throated Sparrow and four name cards still in blanks

Darn Dawn Birds Aviary showing 34 of 111 birds discovered as a grid of bird photos

Tips

Start with the voice that stands out most, then work through the quieter ones.
Common letters such as e or a fill in several names at once.
Think about which birds live in the place on the map; all five are local to it.
If you are stuck, wait for the blurred photos to sharpen near the end of the timer.