• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Trouble with Xeno-canto (3 Viewers)

Brett Richards

Well-known member
United Kingdom
Is anyone else having trouble with Xeno-canto? Now when I click on a call or song, nothing happens. To listen to it, I have to click on the musical symbol next to the 3 horizontal lines top right, only sometimes that isn't there. I am on Windows 10.

Any suggestions?

Brett
 
Hi Brett - are you not getting the little play button to the left of the bird's name, as shown in this screen grab?

(Click to expand it)
 

Attachments

  • BF Xeno-Canto.png
    BF Xeno-Canto.png
    87.7 KB · Views: 16
Is anyone else having trouble with Xeno-canto? Now when I click on a call or song, nothing happens. To listen to it, I have to click on the musical symbol next to the 3 horizontal lines top right, only sometimes that isn't there. I am on Windows 10.

Any suggestions?

Brett
[Just to note: this might be something to do with the browser you're using rather than the operating system. You could try another. Also, presume it's possible to hear other sounds from other sources on your machine: it's not that there's a hardware configuration problem, for example]
 
the little play button to the left of the bird's name
Currently, clicking this does nothing for me using Edge, but works OK (i.e. plays the recording) with Firefox. I'm pretty certain that play button used to worked with both Edge and Firefox - I think!
After opening the recording's own page, the play button on there works ok with both browsers.
(I don't see any '3 horizontal lines top right' in the web page with either browser. Is this a browser control rather than a web-page control?)
All on Win10.
 
I've been having problems with XC for a while. I wonder whether the volume of recordings is greater than the infrastructure can easily handle. What I have noticed is that if you click the play button once, recordings often don't play. Click the play button again (ie pause), then a third time (ie play) and it works.
 
I didn't think about it being a browser issue. I'm on Pale Moon and it plays OK for me.

Just tried on Edge, and although the play button is there and appears to be playing the song, I can't hear a thing.
 
What I have noticed is that if you click the play button once, recordings often don't play. Click the play button again (ie pause), then a third time (ie play) and it works.

Aaaah!!! Well done. Just tried that and it did work
 
Aaaah!!! Well done. Just tried that and it did work
i think the main problem I have is the arrow ["play"] buttons are so small, esp. on a mobile. So selecting them is physically difficult. There's nothing to stop you playing more than one at once which can be challenging—this happens too because they're so difficult to select.

Bit like the old birdforum [and some aspects of the new]: think slight redesign could work wonders
 
Mmmm.... that's why I don't browse on my phone and I hate the touch pad thingy on my laptop!

I get on much better with a mouse.
 
Mmmm.... that's why I don't browse on my phone and I hate the touch pad thingy on my laptop!

I get on much better with a mouse.

Yes but hard to lug a mouse and desktop computer around with you in the field! I regularly use XC from the field, particularly to investigate regional differences or unknown calls, and the play button is microscopic on a cel phone screen!
 
Yes but hard to lug a mouse and desktop computer around with you in the field! I regularly use XC from the field, particularly to investigate regional differences or unknown calls, and the play button is microscopic on a cel phone screen!
LOL I don't have a desktop. And I don't take my laptop out with me. I've the Collins app on my phone if I need to check a song. But then I'm not looking for world wide birds.
 
I too use Collins, of course, and Sibley's app in the US. They're the two best apps in the birding world, arguably, and even they are missing flight calls and dawn songs for many species!
 
Mmmm.... that's why I don't browse on my phone and I hate the touch pad thingy on my laptop!

I get on much better with a mouse.
Yes, but good websites are able to detect what platform you're using (desktop, mobile etc) and change their layout accordingly. See for example Wikipedia; if you view it on a phone you have the option to view the desktop version but the default is the mobile version.
 
I too use Collins, of course, and Sibley's app in the US. They're the two best apps in the birding world, arguably, and even they are missing flight calls and dawn songs for many species!
And/or use scripting to download a library of calls. I use this approach when traveling as there's often no signal (and no good app)
 
And/or use scripting to download a library of calls. I use this approach when traveling as there's often no signal (and no good app)

Yeah I always have as full a set of stuff downloaded as possible, and I don't frequently have signal in remote parts of S America, but there are still plenty of occasions when I'm out and about and trying to listen to / download from XC on the cel phone. It is of course not a major issue, but it sure is fiddly :)
 
There is this, which serves as a (fairly usable, as I recall) phone-app front-end, online and offline, for XC - Android and (ugh) iOS . . .
 
I've been having problems with XC for a while. I wonder whether the volume of recordings is greater than the infrastructure can easily handle. What I have noticed is that if you click the play button once, recordings often don't play. Click the play button again (ie pause), then a third time (ie play) and it works.
This works for me as well. Thanks for all the replies.
Brett
 
There is this, which serves as a (fairly usable, as I recall) phone-app front-end, online and offline, for XC - Android and (ugh) iOS . . .
Yes I have this. In early versions you could download whole avifaunas. I was told that they removed this to reduce traffic to Xeno canto. So now you can only download things one at a time: too slow for me mostly
 
Is anyone else having trouble with Xeno-canto? Now when I click on a call or song, nothing happens. To listen to it, I have to click on the musical symbol next to the 3 horizontal lines top right, only sometimes that isn't there. I am on Windows 10.

Any suggestions?

Brett
Same problem on Win 10. The only way I can hear the song is by downloading it first. Tried Edge, no luck there!
 
Is anyone else having trouble with Xeno-canto? Now when I click on a call or song, nothing happens. To listen to it, I have to click on the musical symbol next to the 3 horizontal lines top right, only sometimes that isn't there. I am on Windows 10.

Any suggestions?

Brett
Same problem with me. I have tried it on both Win 10 and Edge- nothing! The only way I can hear the song is to download it first. Tiresome but it works.
Tringbirds
 
Warning! This thread is more than 2 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top