We have all been there. Sitting sipping a coffee when you hear a different bird than you are used to, so what is it? With the Merlin Bird ID app now you can confidently answer that question. The app has many powerful features that will help you understand what birds may be singing in your area and learn more about them. Merlin Bird ID does not know I am writing this, nor am I receiving any money in consideration for this review.
The app is the culmination of Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology’s eBird project. They sourced sound recordings, bird identifications and images from a variety of educational digital collections. The lab also boasts that they have over 5000 experts across the world on their team.
A Powerful App that Happens to be Free
So what does the app do? Well, one of its best features is its Shazam-like ability to identify birds. When we are out camping I love sitting quietly, and listening to the symphony of bird songs surrounding me. It’s relaxing, and it is fun to try and identify as many as I can before using the app. Spoiler alert, I am not very good, but with this app you can sound like the best of birders. With Merlin Bird ID you can use their various tools and within seconds identify the birds in real-time. What amazes me is the speed the application does all this.
Setup
The app is available on Apple App Store and Google Play store, and it is free to download. If you go to the Merlin website you will see a button to donate to the project. If you appreciate the application please consider donating to the project. Once downloaded you are given the option to install a bird pack. This is broken down by regions and download the one that makes sense for you and where you may travel. I highly recommend you download the one for your region, as I frequently am trying to identify birds in areas where cellular coverage is poor, if existent at all. Having the database on the app makes the app sing!
No hidden costs
Did I mention this is all free? This isn’t one of those apps that you download for free and it costs a wing and a beak to get any appreciable use out of it. Seriously this much firepower under the hood should likely come with a cost. Thanks to the generous grants and donations from their sponsors and government partners we all get to benefit. Cornell list’s the following as their sources for funding: National Science Foundation (grant number DRL-1010818), Pennington® Wild Bird Food, SWAROVSKI OPTIK, the Faucett Catalyst Fund, and friends and members of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Intuitive Interface
Start Bird ID
Once you have answered these questions you will then be presented with the App’s best guess as to what you could have just seen. The app will display clear pictures along with a description of each bird.
Get Photo ID
Similar to Google Photo, tools you can upload an image of a bird and the app will do its best to identify from the image what you saw. You have two choices either take a photo in the app or more realistically you can upload a picture you have already taken. When you first use this feature it will require an additional download for this module that is quick over wifi. In my test for the review, the app quickly identified my great blue heron with ease in a matter of seconds. Yes, I knew what a Heron is prior to my test.
Sound ID
My favourite feature. This will record the ambient noises and identify the birds in real-time as they sing. Not only can it identify birds individually but they can identify all the different birds simultaneously as they sing overtop of each other. It’s quite remarkable. The recording is saved in the app so you can replay it later when learning which bird made what sound. The app will display a graph of the sounds visually, along with a list of the birds it identifies. As each bird repeats their call/song, the app will highlight it again.
The app will also display a list of calls and songs each bird is known to make and you can listen to those sound bytes from their database as well. It’s worth noting that you should try and remain silent during the recording as much as possible. Not only so that you aren’t subjected to whatever insightful commentary you might have said but to give the app the best chance of success. Remember the recording records all noise, not just birds. If the birds are a good distance away and there are other noises like a motor or wind it may not work as well but it is quite sensitive so you will still get results.
Recordings can easily be replayed so you can hear what you recorded and the app will scroll the graph as you play. Each time a bird sounds it will highlight below which bird it identified from the recording. I was surprised when I heard a call I hadn’t heard before and found out it was a Merlin Falcon, fitting that the app’s namesake would show up.
In Conclusion
This app is awesome for all ages. Use this app with a Scout/Guide group on a hike, with your kids or just to pass the time away as you listen to a park start its new day. You will be surprised with the many varieties of birds that call your area home and will learn more about their behaviours as you go along. Even if you don’t consider yourself a birder, you can look like one to your friends when you answer the question, what the heck made that noise?
