We know the iPhone has saved human lives in the past: from blocking bullets to saving someone from diabetes, it’s done it all. However birds? Challenge accepted and completed! The iPhone saved a seemingly dead chaffinch which crashed into a solar panel after tree surgeon Leon Timms played it the sound of another chaffinch using an app on the iPhone, Metro reports.
Timms describes the drama:
I went to have a look and saw this chaffinch lying dazed on the ground – it must have flown into the solar panels on the roof or one of the upstairs windows. The bird looked like it was about to die any second, it was panting and struggling to breathe. I brought the chaffinch inside and starting stroking him on my lap and then I came up with the idea of playing it the sound of another chaffinch on my mobile phone app.
I popped the app on and almost immediately the bird’s eyes opened and he seemed to become more alert. It had looked almost lifeless when I brought it into the house and looked on his last legs but after I played the app it started to show signs of recovery. It definitely responded to the sound of another chaffinch.
It’s an extraordinary story, with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds calling it a ‘very creative use of an app.’ So you know what to do next time you see a bird in need. Download an iPhone app and play it birdsong from its own species. ‘This is something I can tweet about’, Timms added.
