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Hanover (dpa) - Hardly any vacation flights, no cinema or fitness studio: In the pandemic months, many discovered walking for themselves - be it in the nearest park, on the edge of the field or in the forest.

But which bird is chirping right now?

What is in bloom by the wayside and what is the name of the tree with the heart-shaped leaves?

Numerous apps now enable species to be recognized with a smartphone - sometimes a single cell phone photo is sufficient.

The applications include, for example, the “Flora Incognita” project funded by the Federal Environment Ministry, which uses artificial intelligence to identify plants - comparable to automated face recognition.

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The free Nabu Bird World app has been downloaded more than a million times.

You can also purchase additional content from her via in-app purchases - around 1,000 songs and calls of 308 kinds for around EUR 3.99.

“As a new feature, birds can be projected onto the living room table in 3D,” says Nabu spokeswoman Silvia Teich.

The various apps are an opportunity to regain lost knowledge about nature.

Thousands of people also use the bird world app to transmit their observations for the “hour of garden birds” counting campaign.

In the naturgucker.de community, apps are also used to record and report observations. Rolf Jantz from Wathlingen is out and about every day in the district of Celle and beyond. The 65-year-old used to have a piece of paper, pen and map with him, today he only needs his cell phone when mapping a biotope. He still has a camera with a huge lens so that he can also take pictures of animals at greater distances. He then determines the types at home with the help of specialist books and experts - the popular apps are still too imprecise, says the retired banker.

Jantz prefers to be out and about in the moor or on bodies of water.

As a result of climate change, the behavior of migratory birds is changing, he says.

There is also a shift in the range of insects to the north.

For example, Jantz discovered a cup maiden at a pond in Lower Saxony, the heat-loving dragonfly species is actually mainly at home in the Mediterranean region and south-western Europe.

"If you yourself contribute to the inventory maps and to the knowledge about the distribution, it is already a sense of achievement," says the 65-year-old.

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The naturgucker.de community currently has over 96,000 active members. They are networked via an internet platform. Based on the side operated as a cooperative, around 15 apps have been developed so far. The core team is also involved in the development of the new Nabu insect summer app, says Gaby Schulemann-Maier, spokeswoman for naturgucker.de. “The interest in insects has increased enormously. People really love wild bees. " The new Nabu app will contain identification aids and portraits of more than 450 species and is due to appear in June.

However, if you discover nature for yourself during the Corona period, you have to observe a number of rules. For example, it is not allowed to leave the paths in nature reserves. And: "Some use apps with bird calls excessively, they are not aware that they are massively disturbing the animals," says Schulemann-Maier. Bird calls should only be played softly at the ear. When the 48-year-old is out and about as a nature observer with a camera and mobile phone on the grounds of the Zeche Zollverein in Essen, she is constantly approached and asked if she can explain something. "People always say that more needs to be done for nature conservation."

To protect sensitive animal and plant species, the exact observation location can also be hidden in the naturgucker.de system, for example to prevent disturbance to breeding birds or even criminal offenses.

In the Holzminden district, strictly protected wild orchids were dug up and stolen again last year.

The theft of strictly protected plants was not a trivial offense, but a criminal offense that could be punished with imprisonment or a fine, the district said at the time.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210514-99-593465 / 2

Community naturgucker.de

App Nabu-Vogelwelt

Flora Incognita project

PM Federal Environment Ministry 11/2019 on digital plant identification