How to use the Merlin Bird ID App (Photo/Call ID): A Beginner's Guide

The Merlin Bird ID App can be a great tool if used properly, or a nightmare for eBird reviewers. Learn how to use all the features and how to use them properly in this video.
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Carolina Wren in cover photo by N. Lewis (Public Domain) (Edited)
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All other photos and videos by Derek and Ryan Sallmann
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[@neeleyfolk]

I use the sound ID as a pre-identify. I don't put anything on my list until I get a visual. I also find it useful in learning bird songs, I'll figure out what I think the bird is, then use the app. Have learned too identify a number by sound. I'm investigating whether I can use a condenser shotgun mic with my Samsung Galaxy, would avoid background nosie and could direct the mic better.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Nice!

[@WarblerRidge]

I love the sound ID function. I have never been good at identifying birds by ear but I use the app to identify what I’m hearing in my yard and with enough repetition, I’m finally getting better at it. And during spring migration I ran the app for a few minutes each morning to see if it heard any new bird arrivals that I should be watching for. Definitely a great tool as long as you understand its limits.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

For sure!

[@AllThingsConsidered333]

This is very helpful thanks! I’m lookin forward to playing around with the app this weekend!

[@natureexplorationswithbria9343]

I love this app. The sound ID feature has helped me a so much and enhanced my birding experience. I have hearing loss, especially in the higher frequencies, so it is great for those birds that I cannot hear myself. It has helped me to gain confidence in identifying the birds that I can hear. It has been great for giving me a heads up or pre-identify as Hilltown Graymers said. Sound ID is the only way I am going to report certain flycatchers with any confidence.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Glad you’ve been enjoying the app!

[@conniegriner1847]

I love the sound ID feature, with the caveats you mentioned. I always confirm by seeing or hearing the bird myself. I saw a lovely painted bunting recently while traveling, because Merlin alerted me to look for it. Another useful feature in the Explore Birds section is the menu that allows you to sort by frequency, family groups, etc.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Definitely!

[@scripturesense49]

I enjoyed your simple straightforward comments.

[@shannonniemeyer3931]

I love the sound part of this app! I did submit a list them at had an unlikely or rare bird and immediately got an email from Merlin saying that it was unlikely and I needed to submit a picture. But it’s fun to go on a walk around the area and listen for the birds then try and find them! I enjoy your channel and am learning a lot!

[@jameslenhart9075]

Sound ID always helps. Especially during warbler season

[@BadgerlandBirding]

👍

[@matthewhaverkamp8657]

Very cool app! Ive had it for a while but just started using it about a week ago. Certainly a game changer!

[@thisisme1999]

I downloaded a few days ago and it is fun to play with. I focused on using the sound app and you are right it does come up with some oddities at times. I struggle with getting sounds isolated sometimes (diminished hearing) and this helps me to focus on possible bird IDs and instead of being frustrated because I do not recognize what I am hearing at the time. Given a possible ID I can think about what I am hearing and either agree or not. Fun I do need to try out some of the other features. Thanks for the video, this increased my birding fun!

[@davidpatrick1813]

Nice review and instruction .. I have recently picked up the app and very happy and it seems accurate ...

[@Dennis-hl1xl]

Thanks for this guide. It's excellent - quick, easy, complete. I haven't used Merlin yet, but I will.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

You’re welcome! Glad you found it useful!

[@firehawk46064]

Thank you so much for the inspiration! :) Looking forward to exploring what's around me here in Indiana :)

[@dougjochims7491]

Thanks! I learned some new things about the app.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Awesome!

[@user-mo7xe7ie3p]

Very helpful. Thanks!

[@greggillson388]

Thanks for the tip about selecting a portion of the sound playback. I’ve just started using this app and the sound id is great! It is very good at picking up high sounds that I think are faint (empids, waxwings, bushtit, warblers). Is less good at picking up low frequency (ravens and sometimes distant robins or tanager calls). Song sparrow warning note chip it tries to turn into chipping sparrow or golden crowned kinglet. On the other hand I would have missed several high pitched birds without this app, so perhaps the kinglet were present! Like your bunting, it often picked up birds before I heard them. Then I’d walk 50 feet and hear or see them! One thing you can do is tap on the bird it identifies and it will take you to the first time it identifies it. Then you can play it back and hold the phone to your ear and see if you can hear and agree. I tried the photo id today for the first time. It identified black headed grosbeak correctly with my phone out the dirty window 30 feet away. But why was the 2nd option a herring gull? I mean in the forest of western Washington in the summer???!!!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Haha, interesting. And cool tip about tapping the bird and being able to double check the call yourself!

[@daedalusjones3804]

Recently discovered the app and love the Sound ID which I have found very accurate. Perhaps it has been improved from 1 Year ago when you made the video.

[@yt551217]

Great help, thanks

[@cawdacity]

awesome video, but you forgot one key element of Merlin Bird app -- going to an online forum and arguing with people on the internet about whether or not the sound ID is great or not :P and then making 40 memes about it

[@BadgerlandBirding]

That’s true! I’ll have to include that in part 2!

[@bloomins8088]

Just downloaded it this Monday because a new bird popped up at work (it was a blue-grey gnatcatcher, btw). I love it. 33 birds in and hoping to get even more. :)

[@carolshannon6449]

Thank you!

[@ABirdersParadise]

Yeah, especially the sound ID feature looks like it would be fun to try, but only because I bird a lot by ear, so I already know what birds are around in my yard.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Been using it more and if used properly it can be a great tool!

[@josephbernstein2862]

Very useful

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@nancydenson3727]

We have an active starling nest that Merlin sound IDs as a swallow. I love the sound ID feature as it helps me find the bird for a visual…but I don’t post to EBird unless I confirm by sight

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Good call 👍

[@TylerAndToast]

Sound is important. But I always get eyes on with adding birds to my life list. Chuck-will's-widow is my only exception. Whipperwill will be another.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

You can sometimes get eyes on them 👀 but the calls are pretty distinctive you may not feel the need to.

[@johnhartley3596]

I use the app frequently. A note of caution that I’ve learned. N. Mockingbird andCatbird mimics can provide false identifications.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Sounds about right! That’s some credit to them for their mimicking skills.

[@johnhartley3596]

I was pleased to read that many of those commenting noted that they wait to get a visual before they record as observed.

[@staufferfamily9629]

Really neat! Will definitely try this! Thank you!🙂

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Let us know what you think!

[@neddelamatre9572]

I have been recording with the Merlin sound app almost every morning at dawn from the deck on the back of our house since last October. I have found that the recorder works best if used for not more than 20 minute intervals and is left in a stationary position. After about one hour, I have averaged about 15 species and about one "rare" species every day. Most of the calls are out of my hearing range. Obviously, many are flyovers. I have only had a few that were "rare" enough to be questioned. This has led me to conclude that we are missing many birds (especially flyovers). I am interested in others' opinions. Greetings from Akron, Ohio

[@sandrac3517]

Just downloaded the app, but the sound id won't work, still trying to figure out if I need to alter some phone settings as the help section in the app doesn't answer the question...that I can find anyway. Good video

[@matthewwhatley7877]

Ive had the dang mocking bird get me excited more than a couple times. Thinking there was a new bird i should go try to locate .

[@BadgerlandBirding]

They’re great mimics!

[@matthewwhatley7877]

@BadgerlandBirding i would have been stoked to see that indigo bunting . I guess those must be pretty common for you. I think its funny to see people from other states to get to texas and see cardinals and be amazed, we have them in hords around here. I get hyped when i see a summer tanager or a vermillian flycatcher still. Ive only been bird watching for a few months now, and ive been dying for the painted buntings to come thru texas. Now that i am use to seeing the Green Jays, which are beautiful.

[@mr1pearl]

Now if it could tell us what they are saying I'm thinking first thing they ask friend or foe 😆 Great weekend for it Derek 👍

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Haha, we will have to wait for the next update for that!

[@doomsjay3854]

What does the small numbers mean on the top left of each bird on your life list

[@DR_1_1]

Anyone tried with an external microphone connected to the phone's USB? I suppose the mic-in ( 3.5mmTRRS headst/mic) should work if the correct cable is used...

[@luisthelibrarian]

Thank you for making this fascinating video! What app did you use to record your screen? Thanks!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

It’s actually just a button on my iPhone that you press and then it saves to your camera role.

[@luisthelibrarian]

Excellent. What is the button called?@@BadgerlandBirding

[@LoveWiena]

I love when it identifies the bird that it highlights yellow, but upon playback it doesn't do that so I have gotten in the habit of saying what it found so it is included in the recording. And I also like that there is a list of songs and calls associated with that bird it identifies so I can check to see if it really was what I have heard. I find that I hear more birds now on our walks, before I just used to not pay much attention!! Now I stop every few hundred feet to pick up sounds....makes our walks longer in time but much more interesting....love, love LOVE!!!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

When you’re done recording you can click the bird and it should take you to where it picked it up on the spectrogram.

[@LoveWiena]

@@BadgerlandBirding thank you, I gave it a try. I had 3 birds identified for the same sound bite....lol

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@LoveWiena lol, yeah it’s not perfect

[@LoveWiena]

@@BadgerlandBirding but it's definitely helped me identify birds and become more aware, it's like I didn't hear all that chatter out on our walks before!!!

[@TylerAndToast]

The reason it pulled up red winged black bird is because the female like you said. So if you're trying to ID for the first time clicking on each species to see juveniles and females can be helpful

[@BadgerlandBirding]

For sure 👍

[@pauraque]

My guilty pleasure is going on merlin sound id and perfecting my whistle to trick it into thinking I am a NPOW

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Guess it could be a good way to hone your calling skills!

[@greggillson388]

I was thinking this would be a great contest at a birding festival. Is your bird call imitation good enough to fool Merlin?

[@greyfrancolin1576]

The sound id part was so good, can u do more videos where u go out and use the sound id feature?

[@BadgerlandBirding]

We’ll try to do some more with it!

[@helenepajak4857]

how do you get apps? when birds are identified, and you hae the list with photos of a few birds, can you click on a bird to get info and hear the call?

[@kipper1885]

I'm using the sound ID. How can I playback what the bird call sounds like? Thanks so much!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

When you stop recording you should be able to play the file back. If you click the name of the species it should take you to where it “heard” it in the recording and below should give you options to play vocalizations from that species as well.

[@_ethanol_]

I got every bird for the may challenge!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Great!

[@LoveWiena]

Merlin had an update recently (first part of July 2023?) I have some video recordings taken while on a trip and now I want to identify the sounds at home (I used to be able to do that) because I was not able to verify who was singing at the time. Now it won't let me do that, it just picks up the location where I am at even though I tell it to go back to where I recorded it. Anyone else have this issue? I don't know what to do!!

[@NotSure177]

Maybe you guys could do a video on birds that can fool Sound ID. I've got lots of northern mockingbirds. At one park in particular every time Sound ID says there's a bobwhite I inevitably find a mockingbird.

[@firminofire9895]

Can someone tell me what the different coloured dots mean? Thank you! 🐦‍⬛

[@BadgerlandBirding]

The half filled orange dots means a species is considered “infrequent” for the region and time of year, and a red dot means it’s “rare”. This is dependent on your location.

[@ChristopherDillman]

The issue I've run into w Merlin is that I've already recorded the bird sound on my phone as a .wav file, but can't load it into Merlin app to identify. Is this not possible?

[@BadgerlandBirding]

I’m not sure if you can. Your best bet is to open the Merlin app and hope it identifies it in real time

[@ChristopherDillman]

@@BadgerlandBirding Bummer. I'll need to find another bird id app. Because this sound only comes once or twice a year. 🤷‍♂ Seriously I wish I knew what it was, happens only at night in this canyon and from a good distance away.

[@mainaneog1240]

Hello sir, please tell me why the Indian Northeast can't be downloaded on the Marlin app??🙂

[@ludwigiapilosa508]

The sound ID pulls up yellow breasted chat all the time. One of the most frequent false alarms. There is hardly ever a chat actually present.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Sure does seem to be the case!

[@anthonyhewetson5086]

I wonder if that is because Yellow-breasted Chat vocalizations are, as a musician friend of mine put it, "all over the place"?

[@hockeyrd99]

While I know it's can be a helpful tool, I turned off GPS on my phone. I just got too hammered with spam and ads from places intercepting my location, so I went back to stealth mode. lol I don't think Merlin will work without the GPS on. Also, I don't have unlimited data so I turn that off until I need it. The app says it will work without it, I would only use it for identifying sounds, and that part won't work without a valid location.

[@hankschrader2906]

I have a problem with the pack thing and the email too..

[@BadgerlandBirding]

What’s going on with the email?

[@gingerself869]

I want to know what the color codes mean beside some id’s

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Red is “rare”, half white and orange is “infrequent”.

[@jimboe54]

Any idea how to get the sound ID to show the bird pictures? Mine has never done that.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

What kind of phone do you have/is there an app update?

[@jimboe54]

@@BadgerlandBirding I have an iPhone 13 pro max. It should work. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@jimboe54 go to the App Store and see if there are any updates you can do on the app.

[@jimboe54]

@@BadgerlandBirding I did check & nothing. Thanks though

[@snowyowl5556]

6:02 ah... the infamous yellow breasted chat ID'd by merlin 🤣

[@BadgerlandBirding]

👀

[@shefalidas7232]

1:04 Mourning Dove

[@carpenterfamily6198]

Does it wok if you don’t have that cool hat ? 🙂

[@BadgerlandBirding]

It does but not as well 😉

[@Vegavis]

I tried Merlin on myself a while back. It said I was a Cliff Swallow

[@snowyowl5556]

👀

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Are you?

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Are you?

[@Vegavis]

@@BadgerlandBirding nah, Barn. It got close though

[@snowyowl5556]

@@Vegavis lol

[@robertpendergrass2146]

You did not tell us how to save to lifetime list

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Are you talking about eBird?

[@pauraque]

I am really sorry but I kinda hate merlin. It mis-ID's a whole bunch and I think a ton of people have become over dependent on it...

[@BadgerlandBirding]

It’s just like any other tool. It can be used positively or negatively.

[@Bluejayisback]

I may be nine months late, but I mainly disagree with the sound ID praise, at least for me. If a bird is nine feet away and singing in silence, it won't pick it up. Maybe it's just me, but Merlin has never picked up a bird.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Does your microphone work?

[@tman400]

You're not supposed to talk when you're trying to record the sound.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Yes…

[@XavierKatzone]

Never could download a regional bird pack. Useless

[@BadgerlandBirding]

…why couldn’t you download it?