Explore Merlin Bird ID App - eBird Essentials

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The Merlin Bird ID app is often the best way to get started identifying birds. Merlin uses real-time sightings from eBird to quickly narrow your options to species you are most likely to find at that place and time of year.
Find Merlin Bird ID on Google Play or the App store.
Join eBird: ebird.org/home
Video Credits
Narrator: Lilly Briggs
Producer and editor: Shayna Muller
Course Developers: Ian Davies and Lindsay Glasner
Media Credits
Barn Swallow, Larry R. Arbanas/Macaulay Library 464679
#birdacademy #birdwatching #birding #cornelllab #ornithology #birds

[@meganmcq]

I can't get over how accurate the Sound ID is. It is quick and so accurate. Even with 4 birds' songs all singing at once, it can isolate each bird and will highlight it again each time it sings.

[@jeangaffin836]

At 86 I do the same small walk in London round the gardens where my bungalow is placed - in ten minutes I have heard up to 7 birds, usually 4 or 5, but it adds so much to the pleasure of my walk. Thank you.

[@nancywright3403]

Thank you so much for providing the public with this app. I now have a record of all the birds that visit our yard. It is awesome how this app can identify a bird, give a sample of how it sounds and interesting info about it. I am not an official birder but you might make me into one.

[@brentonfender2081]

You are looking and you have an app. You're official!

[@melissa5907]

I absolutely love this app, been using it for about a week or two now. It’s amazing how many birds are near you that you don’t see, that don’t come to feeders. Used the sound ID at our cabin on the lake over the weekend, even just an hour at a time it picked up around 50 different types, between our beloved bald eagle family, the wild turkeys, loons, owls, and many birds I never knew even existed. It’s a lot of fun to learn about the new ones. And I was so incredibly happy that it didn’t even require a signal to use the app, the cabin is in a dead zone for everything. And it’s amazing how easily it distinguishes between so many birds chirping at once, to our ears they all blend in together but the app somehow picks up each individually. And here at home now realizing how many finches are near me, I added a thistle sock to my ever growing feeder collection. Thank you for this app, I absolutely love it ❤️

[@sedonneh]

I've had dogs for the last 15 years of my life, no dogs now, and I've discovered how interested I am in discovering birds. This app is so good at identifying by sound. It's made my life better!

[@bazthehandyman]

Love this app... I can't believe the amount of different birds I've recorded just in my garden.

[@user-lh5go8wv2d]

Incredible app. Just loaded it. Woke up early this morning, set to record, 1 hour later 28 (yes 28!) species recorded. Amazing

[@GeorginaFreeman-hx7pb]

I absolutely love Merlin. When I think of all the years I’ve struggled to name birds from their call especially when my children were growing up. When I listen to a bird now and its name pops up I am awe struck. I keep exclaiming out loud what Merlin identifies. I think my outbursts are soon going to wear thin around my husband!! I was so inspired I have invested in a decent pair of binoculars. Georgie Rutland UK

[@l.a.theoriginalequinista9265]

Thanks to the recommendation of the NWR employee we met at Five Rivers Enviro Center, we downloaded Merlin and it has elevated our walks to a whole different level, especially the song id's - not only to help us know who we are listening to, but when playing similar songs back, it has drawn birds TO us! We had the most incredible, interactive experience with a pair of redwing blackbirds (hint, the 1964 audio recording under this species will induce much puffery and display from the males!). This elevates birding, and engages more people to feel involved with nature, and we need to generate as much common interest as we can in order to save her. Thank you, Cornell Lab

[@aquachimp1]

This is a fantastic and enjoyable app to use, at least for someone like me who is not a birder and merely curious. This video doesn't mention the amazing, astounding and awesome Sound ID feature in this quite app. This description mode, or even the photo options shown here hardly play any role at all for me, because mostly, I just hear their sounds and don't get to see them, except for a flash of quick movement. So, it's really great that the Sound ID is accompanied with a photo of the bird, just in case I do get a fleeting glimpse of it. Thank you.

[@AsheritaViajera]

Hey guys! I´m a birder from Colombia and I really love the work that you do! I´m now working on a video tutorials with all that I've learnt about your platforms in Spanish so I can help new people to understand eBird and Merlin and also show everyone the beauty in my country. You´re amazing, thanks for giving these tools to everyone!!

[@18101957dja]

The video didn’t mention the fantastic sound ID feature or did I miss it? This is an excellent app and thanks from me @Cornell Lab of Ornithology for baking it free to us all!

[@richardschwartz583]

Thank you, Cornell. I've been using your website for years to ID and learn about my local species. Even the cats listen to the calls and songs! Now Merlin makes IDing so much easier. A great app, well done!

[@Randomiseshorts]

Thanks to Cornell lab for providing the best facility for learner..

[@Flipdrivel]

This app is just dazzling. So powerful and well designed. And it's free! I would have paid money for the amount of fun I've had with it in just a few days.

[@groomdoggi]

I just LOVE this app! I am very much a novice bird watcher (and, now, listener!) and this app just makes me want to see more birds and find out what they are. I'm so amazed and the sounds it picks up and identifies. It's just so cool!!

[@SamtheMan0508]

My sister just told me about the app, and I LOVE it! I take it when I walk my dog and I can't believe how many different birds there are in my neighborhood that I didn't know about. It also picks up birds that I can barely hear.

[@frankmicari5092]

Love this app. A friend told me about it and I cannot believe how much fun it is to use and learn about the birds we see around our neighborhood.

[@FreeBeerandChicken]

Simple to use and simply AWESOME! Thank you for making this app available AND free!

[@IngramCars]

It's brilliant. Brings a lot of joy when I'm out working with my dog, I already recognise birds by their song now.

[@felawes]

I use Merlin at my farmhouse in the Loire Valley. The Sound ID is simply wonderful. I had no idea Golden Oriole were here.

[@laroque09]

A really useful app. In just a week, I've learnt so much and added so much pleasure to my local walks.

[@ToddWrightthedrummer]

It is an amazing app. Sparrows are my bane, but armed with the app and a decent pair of binoculars, I have now ID'd five sparrow species as compared to only 2 without the app. The calls were really helpful as I listen as much as I watch.

[@QCB73]

Been using the audio identification and it's amazing how many it picks up, even birds in the distance, fantastic app thank you!

[@rebeccahuber8286]

This app really is amazing and has made my kids so excited about bird watching and identification

[@greendweller5116]

Love this app. Use it everywhere home, work, whenever i hear a bird

[@jeannieslauson4305]

I LOVE this app….I have had so much fun identifying birds that live in our community ( or us living in their community….is probably better said) Thank you for this!!! It’s awesome

[@twilfits]

Great app for identifying calls w bird. It's a return to the wild experience

[@KakunyuSchool]

This app is just amazing! Who knew I had greenfinches singing in the garden? Marvellous! Thank you very much.

[@judiesvoboda361]

This is a great app. I was having trouble identifying the song of a bird in my maple tree, and his song was distinctive. Merlin let me know that he was a white throated sparrow and now I hear him singing all the time!!😊

[@tonygordon2519]

What a brilliant app!!!

[@kateanderson2004]

I thought this app would be abused but started using it a month ago and found that its a really fun and useful tool. I noticed that it does misidentify some birds so you have to still confirm. For example it had a hard time with Blue Gray Gnatcatchers and then IDd a bird that is only found in Texas as one of the several vireos singing at once. But, its changed the way I listen when birding and helped me pick up more species than I would have without it. Its fantastic at discerning different epimadox flycatchers and warblers!

[@Graham.Hanson]

What an amazing app this is. Highly recommended.

[@pontyexpat]

Newcomer to this App. Bird singing away deep within a garden shrub, difficult to make out and not a song I could recognise. Despite wind noise and jet passing over, Merlin rapidly & correctly provided the answer, a dunnock, quite timid but seemingly trying to attract a mate, with a tuneful call, rather than its usual brief "whee" previously observed, top marks folks.

[@satwilliams]

This app is awesome! When I go to SC, there are so many birds, and using this app helps me easily identify them.

[@sandyjburrows59]

Amazing technology! I enjoy the Sound ID feature and am amazed at the birds, barn owls & mallard ducks in my backyard and neighborhood. Love getting the emails to keep learning how to use all the features. I have had this about 2 weeks and live in the Northeast.

[@kristinj4411]

I LOVE this app!!! The sound ID is just amazing!!

[@tilapeace2074]

Simply awesome love it!!

[@kathyfahey5469]

Echo the other praises, but add that while travelling u can have audio of the native birds to that area. A nice little audio snippet to return home with.

[@karengenesis7065]

Love this app. Thank you for helping us connect with nature.

[@jamesdakis826]

I have used other apps but this is by far going to do things that I never thought possible! Thank you so much!

[@claremarriott4959]

Wow, this app is really rather good...... Well done! And thank you for letting me/us use it, you're awesome!

[@DanOhPhotography]

love this App. Has +90% hit rate

[@dmwildfotos]

Awesome app, only had it a week and already I’m learning so much using the sound ID option, brilliant !!

[@stevarey3519]

Brilliant app the best I've seen called in a goldcrest in North West amongst other top woodland birds

[@sunnymeb]

Thank you for this amazing app! The sound feature is amazing!

[@lisakashtan8922]

Love this app!!! 10 out of 10

[@vivekmenon795]

I wish they extend the app to not just birds but all animal sounds too

[@waydemarschel9399]

This is a really cool app. Very informative. So many birds I didn't even know existed. Crazy how well this works.

[@jazzjokesjalopies]

This is a treat. I’m glad you Cornell kids were getting smart while we Ithaca College kids were getting drunk.

[@rosemary3376]

Thank you for this app. Amazing!!

[@susanswain3675]

The Bird ID is indeed amazing

[@macylouwho1187]

This is a wonderful app, thank you. Our yard is a big attraction for so many birds with a bunch of huge mature trees and our pond/waterfalls area. Not to mention the parrot food that gets thrown out on the ground when I clean out my macaw enclosure, oh boy do the birds and squirrels love that 😂. Anyway, we were wondering what birds were what sort while out on the patio watching nature. This app helps tremendously, good job 👍

[@davidherringgo]

Thanks ,great tutorial.

[@wannabetrucker7475]

Just downloaded the app, it's great 👍🏼👍🏼

[@user-rx1nh9rb7q]

Just getting started, but it is already addictive!

[@csoblo]

Love this app. It finds birds i never knew were around me

[@norikocannon9854]

Thanks it is wonderful to knowing.

[@eileenmi2935]

My family and I are enjoying this app so much and learning as well. It seems incredible. I plan to learn more so I can contribute to the data base. Thanks so much!!!

[@Adventure.Ed.EcoFit]

great app that I love to use. I am actually making a video on my top 5 favorite birding apps that I am planning on publishing soon!

[@mauthemau6260]

Oh it’s adventure Ed!

[@josephballerini3730]

Is there an app that is the equivalent of Shazam for birds? I’d like to identify calls I hear.

[@garymowbray6442]

Great app and content - can’t believe it’s free !! 👌

[@SalemwithBeth]

I absolutely love this app!

[@juliescott3367]

I absolutely love this app for the bird sounds. It is incredibly accurate and I have really enjoyed seeing all the different bird species that are in my garden. However I haven’t found the photo ID to be accurate which is a shame.

[@cherylsstitchstash854]

Wow This app is Awesome! It is so quick and accurate. Thank You

[@michaelwalling8281]

I LOVE this app

[@user-bd3cz9yc3i]

Been waiting for an app like this for a long time!

[@marieta.s]

I really love the app bit I wish I could update the lists of birds in the explore section. Sometimes I see birds that the list tells me they are unlikely to be in the area and yet they are. That would be a great feature to add.

[@ObserverSean]

This is genius!

[@alex82776]

i live in spain and its very helpfull , but will have soon the list of bird from south eat asi and asia because i go there many times

[@c.s.hayden3022]

I had the idea for this shortly after Shazam dropped. Good to see someone do it.

[@keithpurtell1213]

I've been using the sound ID feature, and this app works great! I don't mind that it once identified the sound of my phone's screen-capture click as a bird.

[@MikePeeplesPhotography]

I love my Sibley Birds reference book, but this MB ID app sure is quick and easy! It's not perfect but my ability to align with Sibley isn't either. The Sound ID picked up, within 4 minutes, the 7 most common birds in my backyard. I'm really looking forward to the Backyard ID event later this week.

[@maryannlacey4044]

I haven't used the app yet, but this truly helped! Thank you! I've never had an app that sends information on how to use it via Email.

[@sajithdesilva3871]

Great app and so accurate. It’s also better if you add a bird pack for Asian countries

[@alinam.9274]

Love this app! Can you add the ability to save the identified birds to Life list from sounds recording page, please? It would be brilliant!

[@robertbosch8513]

Only just subscribed but really looking forward to usin g the app

[@maxieslater4377]

Wow amazing

[@Orion2223dz]

I'm using this app at La Réunion, unfortunately there is no regional library.... But I used it at Kerguelen island and it was amazingly accurate !

[@AlbertaGamer]

I am addicted to this app and I go for walks just to use it. It's all your fault.

[@dannydecroock4158]

Such a pity that we cannot get the names of the birds in our own language (Dutch), but this is not possible worldwide I suppose. The sounds this app is recognizing is incredible. European Robin for example is in Dutch "roodborstje" and Eurasian Blackbird is "Merel". Of course I recognize them as I am already a birdwatcher since my youth. Congratulations with your app, fantastic.

[@safffraan]

In "settings" you can change the common name language to dutch!

[@kikkap]

Yes you can. Look at the settings.

[@penguinswithpencils2333]

I feel like I'm playing real life pokemon. Great app :)

[@BardiVorster]

WOW!

[@JONIMORONI]

I love using this app! And so does my brother 300 miles away - we can send each other our recordings - BUT!! - is there any way we can share them so we can see the bird lists also, including the photos and the ‘light-up’ effect identifying when a particular bird chimes in?

[@kamoonrathewolfgod9189]

This is a fun app. Only problem with it is our mockingbirds sing a lot of different songs and Merlin trys to identify each one as a different bird. Which is kinda funny to me. Otherwise this is a very accurate app on all the other birds. We have a lot of birds in our wooded yard.

[@ak056kub]

In downtown Santa Rosa, near the freeways, all I could sound ID was a brown towhee and a mockingbird. But I figured the mockingbird counted for at least 10 species calls. LOL

[@thegibberingfool6894]

This a good app but with photo i.d which I mainly use there seem to be quite a few pictures missing it suggests they may be on bird packs which are additional installs which are a long list of individual places and it seems to struggle with juveniles of birds.

[@mattkatt]

Fantastic app! I am a birder ( many decades in Scandinavia) and this is very useful. Even I have not anymore good hearing, this app helps a lot😊 One suggestion: is it possible to add bird's scientific (latin) name, too?

[@FassoliaPlaki]

You can turn on the scientific name option in Settings!

[@mattkatt]

@@FassoliaPlaki Thank you!

[@jannar2826]

The only thing in the app that works well is the sound-ID, which is pretty good and fun because it identifies live. A downside is that you cannot access information about the identified birds directly. The bird identification does not work, even though I have downloaded the birds for my area and it just gives me "no bird identified". I've tried several combinations and I know there are birds in my area.

[@juliekennedy7464]

I love this app! But I have a question. Several times, I've had Merlin say it can't identify the bird I've seen using the questions asked. So I look it up on Google and figure out what bird it is. Is there a way to input that bird in to my life list? I love having a record of what I've seen, but I can't figure out how to add birds that the app can't identify. Thank you!

[@debbyburke719]

great

[@christineabercrombie7316]

is it secure, meaning no backdoors in your phone when you download it? my only question about any app.

[@antonioercano9227]

hola buenas tardes, porque en la cabecera de la foto no viene traducido en español el nombre del ave , sugiero debería venir traducido en español también , Gracias

[@shahg5524]

Sound ID is a bit of an issue. It doesn’t identify common garden birds and I can’t figure out how I record a bird sound that I know and train Merlin on the sound for Australian birds.

[@amalfigirldesigns]

Do you have your location on? Otherwise, it will repeatedly tell you that it has "no match".

[@shahg5524]

@@amalfigirldesignsyeah location is on but I’ve since found out that Australian Birds are not well covered by the App. It’s more for US audience.

[@allanolson2752]

How do I identify night bird song

[@hockeyrd99]

I see a lot of beginners using it so I know it works, but I do have an issue. I would only use it to identify sounds. Won't work if I have your GPS location off (sorry, but regardless of why I don't want my GPS on, I think if I downloaded the location pack, it should work). Anyway, been birding over 50 years, so I just rely on my own knowledge.

[@notsohandytim5090]

On my phone the only response I ever get is "Merlin doesn't have a likely bird." I even got that response using the exact key factors used in this introduction. 🤨

[@ven.dhammadinna5292]

One problem with the app is that you can't bring up ducks as a general group to look and compare them for an ID.

[@Toby_Kat]

This video was released four years ago... Why in the world does it require iOS 16 to install? :o

[@florencebousquetderouvex2070]

Comment reconnaître à partir du cri ou du chant ???

[@brentonfender2081]

Hey Merlin if you can hear me: please allow me to manually set my location for Sound ID. I go places without service and things get real weird. Varied Thrush in West Virginia???

[@bertranddavy8753]

Dommage que cette application soit en anglais car je ne comprends pas cette lange. N'existe-t-il pas une traduction automatique en français?🤔