Award-winning teen birdwatcher launches mobile game in which players explore birding hotspots

One of the small pleasures of this pandemic spring for someBritish Columbians has been getting to know their local birds and now they can virtually travel topopular birdwatching spots south of the border, too, thanks toa new mobile game co-created by a B.C. teen.

Find the Birds,co-created by Coquitlam birder Adam Dhalla, 15, was released Monday, withthe first territory available for players to virtually explore being SaguaroNational Park in Arizona.

As your avatar checks out the terrain, your missionis to noticebirds along the way. Whena player spots a feathered friend, the game rewards them withan interactive collector card that tells them all about the species they have spotted.

In Saguaro National Park, players should be on the look out forCalifornia condorsand cactus wrens, the latter being Arizona's state bird.

• Read more stories from CBC Vancouver

"We really wanted to keep true to the actual birds," said Dhalla, speaking Tuesday onCBC's The Early Edition, adding he is just trying to simulate the birding experiencefor game players.

WATCH| Trailer for the newly launched mobile game Find the Birds:

The game will continue to be updated with newbirding hotspots in Canada and the U.S. so users will have new terrain to check out and new birds to look for.

Dhalla has already made a name for himself in the global birding community. In 2018, he wontheAmerican Birding Association's Young Birder of the Year award and was the youngest-ever presenter at the International Ornithological Congress.

In 2019, he partnered with the U.S. National Wildlife Federationto develop Find the Birds.

Dhallasaid he thinks a mobile game is the smart way to reach his peers andthatif youth discover the excitement of birdwatching, they will also learn about habitats and conservation.

WATCH| Adam Dhalla speaks to the National Wildlife Federation about his love of birds in 2019:

The game can be played entirely offline and is available for free from Google Play and the Apple App store.

For British Columbian birdersstill keeping their eyes on the sky, Dhalla said his favourite spring visitors, Wilson's warblers, should be visible locally in a couple of weeks.

The small yellow bird is recognizable by its colour and song that sounds like a chattering series of loud, descending notes.

And while the pandemic may be keeping Dhallafrom looking for birds in far-off places, he said he is more than content just strolling his local streets and seeing what's singing.

"These wonderful lives of these birds that we see every single day is fascinating to me," he said.

LISTEN| Teen birder Adam Dhalla talks about Find the Birdson CBC's The Early Edition: