Merlin Bird ID By Cornell Lab Customer Service

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab Positive Reviews

Loads of funLet me begin by stating I never use the original function of describing the bird I see. If I can see it that we’ll, chances are I can identify it without Merlin. The same goes with the photo ID feature—if I can get close enough and get a good enough look , I can ID the bird as well as Merlin can. I have tested out the photo ID, and I believe it would be a useful tool for beginners. Be aware that it’s not perfect: it has just as hard a time distinguishing between sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks as I do. Where the app really shines is in the sound ID. At first I was a little skeptical. One of the first times I used it it thought that one bird was both a common raven and an American crow. Same thing with some gulls. It thought there was both a California and Herring gull. I eventually found one I could call a California, the Herring gull never materialized. It also thought there was a tundra swan, but upon reviewing the recording, there was nothing there, and definitely no swan within my sight. The more I have used it, however, the more confident I become in its ID power. Generally, if Merlin disagrees with what I thought the sound was, I’ll try to track it down and find it. And more often than not, I find what Merlin told me was there. But the most fun I have had with this app was watching a northern mockingbird singing while Merlin picked out thirteen different bird songs that one mockingbird had learned and incorporated into its repertoire..Tory MathisVersion: 2.1.1

Great for a beginner like meI love birds and want to learn more about them. I have been hesitant to join birdwatchers as I’ve heard via birder email lists the experienced birders can be impatient and critical of newbies and also make it hard for newbies to join any groups. It’s like breaking into a click. That said, I felt I needed to learn before I even got started so I tried Merlin ID. I have used all 3 tools and find each one useful. I’m most excited about the sound ID though. This app is not perfect and you should question a match that seems questionable, like if it gives you a “rare” match. Do some research by listening to the call options to see if the match is authentic. This app also doesn’t recognize every bird. But, when there isn’t a match just submit the recording to Merlin so they can further improve the app. It is constantly improving and can only do that if we all help out. One day, I heard a bird but couldn’t see it. The sound tool identified the bird so then I knew what to look for and sure enough, I was able to visually identify said bird! I was super excited and encouraged. I also enjoy reading about each bird, the various photos and learning the different calls and songs. I’ve begun to share this with my daughter and grandkids when we take walks. My grandson lights up when he is able to see photos of the birds he is hearing and he’s only 2.5. Fun for the whole family!.Scuba NonnaVersion: 3.0

Changed my life. Seriously.This app opened my eyes to the world around me. I was never into birds before. I started using it after moving to a more wooded neighborhood in Nashville because I’d never heard so many birds and just wanted to see what was making all these sounds. I was shocked at the numbers of birds around me that I’d never taken the time to see or hear. Thanks to Merlin, I can now identify at least 20 birds by their songs and calls alone and I never knew how happy that would make me. More importantly, and totally unexpectedly, it helped me develop a daily mindfulness routine that was missing in my life before. I have a high stress job in healthcare. Merlin taught me to completely quiet my mind before and after work by being still, listening, and watching. I’d gotten so bogged down by life and stress that many of the little joys and wonders around me had become invisible. That’s no longer the case. Merlin has enriched my life and contributed to my well being and health in a way that sounds incredibly corny and fluffy to describe but it’s absolutely true. Now I’m proudly that weirdo who stops in the parking lot, looks up, and says “there’s a red shouldered hawk somewhere around here.” And it makes me smile before I keep walking to do whatever I need to do that day, a little more amazed by something beautiful in the world. Thank you Cornell and everyone who made this possible..Papaboy the BirderVersion: 3.1

Amazing tool, but a few minuscule issuesThis app is amazing. I use it every time I go bird watching, and it is far more efficient than most of the manuals I own. However, it is not without its minor faults. The first and most blaring is the fact that Isee many birds with many more than only 3 colors, and when I see birds with only 3 or less colors they might be different colors than I have the options I have to pick from! I understand that there are limitations that make it difficult, but the app would be that closer to perfect if you added more colors and the option to pick more than three colors. The other issue is that on a very slim chance I cant find the bird im looking for! This is for the most part my fault, but I think that sometimes it is because the bird isn’t on the list of birds registered on the app. It could also be because of the pictures of the birds do not include all or most variations of the bird I see, so I cannot confirm my sighting. If the roster of birds was filled up more, and there was more pictures, then all of those problems would be solved! It is such a great app with such great features and it almost never fails me. The only issues it has are so minor, or could be fixed in an update soon, that it makes them nearly irrelevant. Because of all of this the app is virtually perfect, and i recommend all bird watchers newbies and veterans alike to download this app..Jimmyjummy69Version: 1.4.2

Great free app.This is a fun and easy to use bird ID app. Generally I know the birds in my area but I don’t know all their calls and some birds are similar. Once you’ve recorded and stop, you can click on the green arrows and there are examples of all their calls (though some alarm calls are missing). On a early spring morning when birds are chatty and finding mates, I’ve picked up 17 birds. However, I think two of them were really a Mockingbird imitating a Purple Martin and Kildeer on the shoreline and I hadn’t seen either. So, it’s good to listen to a Mockingbird’s own sounds and if a bird you haven’t seen comes up quickly with the Mockingbird, it may not be Merlin’s fault. It did pick up the sound of my door opening as a Loon but we don’t have any. When signing up, when you choose the pack it’s good to choose your area so there are less mistakes. The photo ID works pretty well so far. When you explore birds in the app, some birds say rare that really aren’t, e.g. Mergansers have become common in the winters here mostly in brackish waters. It’s possible that it might mix up juvenile hawks that all have white breasts with brown drippy markings. You can go to Cornell Lab’s website and learn how to recognize their differences, the length of their tail feathers being one way. It’s helpful and fun and surprisingly picks up bird sounds even when there’s traffic noise..Kristen266Version: 2.1.8

Even better as the years go byI’ve been a user of this app for long enough that I can’t remember when exactly I started using it. I’m not an advanced birder and I like to pack as light as possible when I go birding or hiking so it comes in handy. I mostly used the step-by-step ID in the early days, but as my interest in attentively listening to and photographing birds has grown, I find myself using the sound and photo ID features more. They’re excellent! I especially love to use this app when visiting my family in Oaxaca, Mexico or my fiancé’s family on O’ahu and Hawai’i Island, despite sound ID being less reliable there (though I’m pleased that the app is up front about this, and when the singing birds are in sight I’ve even wondered if I could contribute identification to the recordings rather than just the other way around). The latest UI update streamlines the IA in a way that’s intuitive to my interests, and at the top of my priorities is the Life List! I really appreciate the fact that I don’t have to go through the ID process to mark a bird as a lifer anymore (a year or two ago when that wasn’t possible I was agonizing over not being able to get the step-by-step ID to show me Bald Eagles). Merlin Bird ID is an amazing app and invaluable asset to me as a bird enthusiast, I really appreciate all the work that goes into it!!.Just that Simple.Version: 3.2

The best birding app you will ever use!I have used this app for years now. This app offers several ways to identify an unknown bird you saw. The primary way to identify birds is sound ID. It identifies birds through your phones microphone. However, it can make mistakes. You should study the calls provided by the app, but not all calls you hear will be there. Sound ID can help you quite a bit in finding birds you cannot see. A rare bird may be listed by sound id, but it is probably an error. I had a red-winged blackbird call claimed to be an American Pipit. Sound ID is still very useful, just don't trust it all the time as it is just a suggestion. Photo ID is the best way to identify birds, and supports far more birds than sound ID. Photo ID is far more accurate. But getting a good photo of an elusive bird can be difficult. If you have no photos or sound ID recordings of the bird, you can use the apps traditional method that asks you basic information, such as the size, colors, and behavior of the bird you saw. While the method isn't the best method, it can help with getting an idea of what the bird you saw might be. The app contains thousands of photos and audio recordings to download in bird packs. Bird packs contain photos, ID information, sound recordings and a description of the bird. This app is still the best birding app out there!.KeithandmarchantVersion: 3.3.1

Amazing App for easy Bird IDThis app is wonderful! I knew next to nothing about birds until a Eastern Goldfinch landed in my bird bath one day spurring interest into exactly what the name of this beautiful bird was. I searched inline but characteristics I described didn’t help me find what I was looking for so I checked in the App Store for a bird identification app finding many games but only a couple of identification apps I downloaded 3 but found this to be the best for me. Since then I have become an avid bird watcher! The app is easy to use even for me. I was disabled by a drunk driver in 05’ & fed up with tv so great to find a hobby I can enjoy outdoors. Even my parents joined in & my daddy after suffering a head injury himself in 2011 took up the hobby along with wood working. Together we would make feeders & houses to help attract more birds. He would build & I would paint different types of houses I researched on the website to help attract birds of all types. Unfortunately We lost him to cancer in February of this year (2018) but the time we spent birding together these past 7 years is something I’ll always hold near & dear to my heart. Thanks so much to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds in the Hand, & the developers of the Merlin Bird ID for providing us with this wonderful app that has given me some very sweet memories & a wonderful hobby..Cconner79Version: 1.3.9

Best free birding appThis app got me started with birding. Last spring, I downloaded it to start identifying the common birds around me like American Robins, European Starlings, Common Grackles, and Northern Mockingbirds. Soon, I moved from merely identifying birds to counting them also, and soon after, I started recording full checklists with the EBird app (I think also a product of the Cornell School of Ornithology?), which is the best solution for those who wish this app would record their sightings. Now, less than a year later, I have 150 species on my list and have found a new lifelong hobby that I expect to bring me joy for decades to come. It’s all thanks to Merlin! Though I eventually found that a high quality illustrated field guide (I use Sibleys in the US and Collins in Europe) is more useful than any app, I still reference Merlin for sounds or any time I don’t have my guide on me. I was very excited when Merlin came out with bird packs for Europe right before I traveled to Greece this past fall, and I look forward to seeing more bird packs coming out for other parts of the world as time goes on. It’s fun to scroll through the foreign packs and dream about traveling to new places and seeing those birds. I’d glad that when I do go, I’ll have Merlin with me to help identify them!.SuperduperdoVersion: 1.3.7

Algorithm problemIt has come to my attention that the algorithm used to show likely birds in a region is flawed. The algorithm occasionally causes rare birds to appear common at certain hotspots. My guess to how this happens is likely due to the birding community discovering a rare bird and sharing that info with their community. Then people from all over show up and enter the bird into eBird. This causes a large number of people to report the same single bird. As a result the algorithm will occasionally tell you birds like a scissor-tailed flycatcher is common at Arcadia Marsh, MI. When as far as I can tell it was only seen on one day by many people. Or it could tell you that a lazuli bunting or a painted bunting are common at Whitefish Point, MI when in fact there are very few historic reporting a of either of those birds statewide. An improvement could be made by changing the algorithm to factor in the number of birds reported per checklist for example (10 trumpeter swans) along with the number of days the bird has been seen over a period of time. This would prevent anomalous inaccurate results for a single bird that was seen up to hundreds of times on only 1 day. Aside from that the app is excellent at what it was made to do. As a predictive tool of what birds you may find in a given region, extra research is required to double check Merlin’s findings..Paulite31Version: 1.7.4

Peregrine FalconI observed the many peregrine falcons that the city brought to do away with reduce the pigeon population in fact what they reduced is migrating birds given they were exhausted from their long flights. The falcons had their nest in one tall building and in an adjacent building they ate their catch leaving bones spread over the entire roof point is the eight and left bones in a distinctly different area than where they nested and where they perched to hunt. My corner office had a ledge right outside my window where they would stand and when they saw an animal below them a bird below them they would dive at a speed that looked unreal. It was so fast they have special eye coverings when they’re diving reduce in affect of the wind on their eyes there are particular ravenous birds and can hunt often most of the day did janitors in the building where they left their bones had to go up and eliminate the bones at least once every three months they were so numerous shows they don’t exist in Chicago but indeed they exist in distinct enough so that a bird watcher could observe them they were brought in specifically to eliminate our large pigeon flocks but that failed miserably. The pigeon built like a bowling ball could make dramatically quick reversal of motion turns and it’s very hard for falcon Tom White.Global BullVersion: 3.1.1

Nothing Short of AmazingThe speed and sensitivity of the Sound ID function is startling. It appears to be able to process several birds at nearly the same time. I can’t speak to it’s accuracy yet, because I haven’t had that many opportunities to visually confirm the sound IDs. But even if accuracy is only ok (and I suspect it’s much, much better than that), the app has already been invaluable to me as a novice birder. It has sped up my learning tremendously. Hearing the actual call as the app gives the bird’s name, and then seeing pictures of that type of bird on the app - this is exactly what I need to build those associations in my memory. And then being able to read a bit about it’s behavior and listen to the variety of its calls and songs provides context, and hones in on consistencies and variations of that bird’s call. Watching the app sort out the calls of over half a dozen birds as they call and respond in the morning, again and again, is really helping me learn how to tell them apart and name them. I’ve taken two birding classes and I use two different field guides, but none of those have helped me learn birds as much as this app. This is exactly what I needed!.Passage MakerVersion: 2.1.1

Best resource for the novice birder.I’ve had this app for a few years now and just wanted to test it out. It’s probably not very helpful that I’m just now getting around to it. I was initially pretty disappointed at first because the number of species specific to Alaska was fairly limited. It took a little time, but they rolled out regional specific bird packs. It just blew up from there and became my go-to app for identifying birds. The photo ID feature is pretty great, but limited only by the quality of my phone camera. It’s usually pretty accurate though. I’ve just gotten way more interested in birds I really didn’t pay attention to before! The app is great and if you enjoy birds of all sizes in your area, chances are this app will be instrumental in identifying them. I think I use it more than any other app I have. Oh yeah, I also really love the bird sounds feature. This is also very useful when you can’t necessarily see the bird, but you might have a close idea of what it could be. Do check it out, this is well put together app overall. I wonder if they’ll have a feature where you could identify simply by recording a song or a call? I’m excited for any new developments in the future!.Afree76Version: 1.4.2

Great, but could be smoother and quicker for sound identificationThis app has helped me learn and pay attention to sound qualities I didn’t used to discern, vastly increasing the accuracy of my birding by ear. My most frequent frustration is when I lose the chance to record an infrequent sound, because it can take so many clicks and scrolls to get to the Start new recording activator. I wish as soon as I open the screen, no matter whether I last looked at data for a bird with twenty song and call variations, or if there was no match, or if there were 8 species heard, that I could see and touch the Record function in one step. Instead, the passing bird is gone out of range too often, or stopped calling or singing. My second frustration is that there’s no quick way (at least that I have found) to delete a recording in which the target wasn’t registered. I wish there was a Delete last recording button right on the screen with the No match report, and also on ones where a plane or truck noise took over the recording. All that said, I often recommend this app to birders who haven’t tried it yet. Thanks.Tina B VTVersion: 2.1.5

Download for Loads of Birding Fun!I started this app about a week and a half ago, and I’m loving it! I can identify any singing bird, and almost any picture of a bird! It identifies your description of a bird, too! You can also search for birds in your area, and play the calls. I’ve been able to play White Breasted Nuthatch, Cardinal, Robin, House Sparrow, House Finch, and Ruby-Throated Hummingbird sounds, and all with a reaction! The biggest reaction I got from a bird was a hummingbird, that was my first time playing the sounds. After a few times, she flew 2 feet away from my face! She looked really stunned, wondering what was going on. After a few seconds, she flew back to her perch in a tree and answered my call all the times after that. Just two problems. 1: When I was having fun with the app and trying to get a Mourning dove, no matter what I tried it wouldn’t give me it. 2: Sometimes there are sound bugs, which I completely understand. One time there was a sound in my house and it thought it was a Brown-Headed Cowbird. Anyway, I think I just heard a hummingbird’s mating call! Better go see them, Bye! Also, download this app for 100% guaranteed bird identification!.KittyPrincess1207Version: 2.1.2

It opens up a new world!Visiting a reserve this app lit up like a pinball machine when you've hit the jackpot! Showing my age? The only comment for improvement I have Is to be able to save the identifiable birds if you're unable to have an Internet connection. I am often out and about in the mountains without a cell connection and the only Internet connection I have is within 20 feet of the lodge where I'm staying. When I get out into the woods and my list is lighting up like a Christmas tree. I'm unable to do anything about saving, the identified species due to he absence of an Internet connection. Hopefully the designers are young and energetic, and they can figure out a way to remotely save the species. It would be fantastic if I was able to where to push the save button and retain the identifiable species so that I can log them later when I get back to the lodge. An option would be to have the choice to save them to the "same location" and that way you can just add them to the location where you registered hearing the last bird OR click "different location" and you are able to type in a location..BonsaimaidVersion: 3.1.1

Still My Go-To!Merlin has always been the first ID app I open and the sound ID is absolutely indispensable. While I’m now able to bird by ear, I like the extra help with uncommon migrants that pop in for a few days each year. It’s also nice to have Merlin back up my IDs on lifers or when I submit rarities. With that said, it’s not infallible so some common sense needs to be used: if it’s telling you you’re hearing a bird that’s wildly out of range, it’s probably wrong. I don’t trust it unless it IDs the same species in two different recordings. But I absolutely recommend this app to birders off all skill levels. [Previous Review circa 2015] I've been using Merlin for almost a year and I love it. It has almost never failed to give me the correct ID. I have some of the expensive birding apps and Merlin outshines them. The search returns the birds that are most likely based on eBird data, so you don't get hypothetical birds that you'll never see. I really appreciate the fact that Merlin recognizes both male and female field marks because so many apps focus only on the male. I highly recommend this app to anyone who needs to ID birds--beginner or expert..KunsthureVersion: 2.1.7

Awesome bird Id app!I totally love this app and the way it helps you identify all kinds of birds from your backyard or anywhere else! One thing is that it asked me to put in my email, which is fine, but five days later it said my grace period was over and that I had to send a confirmation email. It said that it had sent the email, but I hadn’t received any. This may be because I have a school district account, in which case it is not that apps fault, though a little more troubleshooting options would be nice. My mom and I are completely hooked and this is the perfect bird id app. Thanks Merlin! An update: Still very wonderful, super helpful no matter where you are, excellent bird ID app. One suggestion for people considering downloading Merlin: first off, you definitely should; second off, it might ask if it can send you notifications or something when you are logging in. Don’t. The amount of EMAILS I get from Cornell Labs of Ornithology is just annoying. I can’t figure out how to turn it off. Save yourself! (Still love Merlin so much, best app for beginner or advanced birders).A bird watcherVersion: 3.2

I really like this appI am a beginning bird watcher since moving to the country and it’s helped me to identify species that I just don’t see in the city, like the acorn woodpecker, the California scrub jay and even the turkey vulture. The only disadvantage is that one must be very specific about where the birds are seen. If you have a birdbath and you put in “swimming or bathing “ the search will yield mostly aquatic species and you probably won’t find what you are looking for. Best to put in “on a tree or fence “ unless you are at a lake or something, and you know that it’s an aquatic species. Just FYI. Use the companion app eBird to report and record your results. It’s got a link to Merlin so you can search as you’re out birding or just on a hike somewhere. Birds are so cute even though they can be dicks like raiding other birds nests and stuff (something I’ve seen and it’s quite upsetting). But it’s nature! It’s not really kind. I don’t see nearly as many starlings as I did in the city which is gratifying. In case y’all don’t know they’re an invasive species that should be removed with extreme prejudice wherever they are found in America. Anyway, thanks for putting the app out to the general public! Love it!.OwenGilVersion: 1.8.2

Sound ID is a powerful tool, unfortunately it sometimes crashesAs other reviewers have said, the sound ID function is quite amazing and justifies using this otherwise mediocre birding app. Merlin can easily identify a dozen different species all singing in a dawn chorus, occasionally identifying a bird that I didn’t even hear myself. For example, the other morning Merlin identified a brown thrasher, which surprised me because I had neither seen nor heard any, but by tapping the bird’s name on the playback screen, Merlin played back the part of the recording that had the thrasher singing, and I was able to confirm for myself that it was a correct identification by then playing the pre-recorded calls in Merlin’s library (I’ve never had Merlin mis-identify a bird call, but I still listen to double check when I’m not sure) My only complaint is that the app inexplicably and unpredictably locks up, apparently in some kind of infinite loop because my phone will overheat when this happens, and it’s difficult to get the task manager up to terminate Merlin. Restarting the app always fixes the problem, and it only happens occasionally, but nonetheless I’m docking 1 star until this is fixed..I110OVersion: 2.1.8

ThomMy big concern is that the location using gps? I get around Maryland. My back yard over 25 years ago was enrolled in a Maryland wild acres program. I have 2/3 of an acre and an even wilder area that is a right of way for a utility easement. My wife and I gardened for wildlife and we more into encouraging birds and animals than a groomed lawn. All kinds of birds come here. We have a hawk always around and a couple of owls that seem to like our hundred d foot white pines! Anyhow, the GPS ID puzzle me as often it is way off. While trying to use the id description I was trying to report a common house finch and first the location was put up as somewhere in Kansas. When I reset it it picked Silver Lake in Florida. I am very puzzled about what I do to defeat the GPS. Eventually I got it straight but if I did not pay attention to location I would be all over the place!! By the way, I mostly have very common birds on our yard, but yesterday was awesome as we had a light snow. About 3 inches and the robins came back in large numbers. They were in a pin oak and would fly to our dawn redwood and then to our privet stand loaded with berries! They and the hordes of starlings were loving life. What an all day event..MD wild acre plotVersion: 3.0.5

Useful with a major flawThe app is overall quite useful for identifying birds and the audio references are great. What needs to change is your ability to add birds to your life list. There are times when I spot a bird, and I already know what bird it is, and I get excited to add it to my life list which is a great feature to have, but I *can’t*, which is super frustrating. You *have* to use the bird identifier to add a bird to your list, and there are times when I can’t for the life of me figure out what combination of answers I’m supposed to give the identifier to get it to suggest the bird I’ve already identified, so I just can’t add it. Then I search by name and there’s my bird, but no way to report my sighting. How crazy is that? Today it was a group of 6 cedar waxwings in the tree outside my window. I tried every combination of brown, gray, white, and even yellow and black with sizes of robin sized between a robin and a sparrow, and I never could get it to suggest waxwing, so it will not go on my list. This has happened multiple times now and at this point I’m going to give up on my life list because it defeats the purpose to not be able to track all my sightings..TreecitynighVersion: 2.0.3

One flawGreat app. Really cool. Very helpful in identifying birds, but they don’t give all the options when you do “Start Bird Id.” For example, I saw a chukar on a mountain that is sort of in the middle of a city. They’re not super common there but they’re definitely there and so when I went through the identification process that wasn’t an option to choose from in the end. The only way to identify the bird in that specific location was to pick a location that I know where they are in abundance and then once I find it and click “This is my bird” then I change the location to where I actually saw it. This works fine in this instance because I’m familiar with the bird and it’s usual habitat but the next rare bird I find may not be listed and if I’m not familiar with it then I’ll never know what it was. My recommendation is to allow all birds in the pack that fit the descriptions show up on the list. Or at least make it a possible setting. If there is already a setting that can do that then someone please let me know. I know you can change that setting on the “Explore Birds” tab so why not make it a possibility on the “Start Bird Id” tab?.Stockton's commentVersion: 2.1.2

Love this appMerlin may be my favorite app of all. While not fool proof, it has provided me a way to improve my weakest area in birding, song recognition, while helping me identify those birds I’m unfamiliar with; using this app has improved my knowledge of bird songs and the number that I can recognize on my own. It has been a great addition to my collection of birding apps. I would, however, like to see improvement in song identification for the Hawaiian islands. We go there every two or three years, and many of the songs remain new and unfamiliar. However, when I open Merlin, I am told that Merlin needs additional data for that geographic area. There seems to be a very low number of satisfactory results when I’m birding there. It is surprising that there are better results in Spain, Italy, and Cyprus. Keep up the good work. This is a valuable app for both identification and education. I hope that we will be able to continue to have new bird packs, and that new data will continue to be submitted so that the songs of new species from around the world can be added..MTBirder2Version: 3.1

It’s like real-life pokemonWe have a very prolific feeder on 8 acres that has sustained many generations of birds. When I tell you that this app is such a delight! We use both the step-by-step ID function as well as the sound identification, and they never miss the bird we’re trying to identify. It’s always so exciting to get a new bird added to your lifetime spotted list, akin to playing pokemon when I was a kid (and still as an adult if I’m being honest). The sound ID especially is a treat. My only suggestion for the developers would be to add 2 pieces of information in the lifer listings: the first of which specifies how you identified the bird – by photo ID, by sound, or by step-by-step ID – and the second of which has the symbol for how common the bird is in that area. Sometimes when looking through our list, I’ll find birds that I swear I’ve never seen in my life and I’m left to assume that I must’ve identified them by sound, which then leads me to wonder how rare it is to lay eyes on that particular bird. It’s not terribly consequential, but those are nice pieces of information to have :).A;sldjflsfjslfkjdVersion: 3.1.1

My favorite nature appI absolutely love this app. I have been using it since it was developed and it has revolutionized birding. The original method works extremely well. Now inexperienced birders can also use voice ID to help them identify quick moving, tiny treetop birds and birds hiding in dense brush, which are difficult to see clearly. Learning to ID birds by ear is tough. While it isn’t perfect, it is right most of the time. Once in a while, the voice ID comes up with a head scratcher, but, as an experienced birder, I can almost always figure out what it heard that led to a mistaken ID. Usually the culprit is a distant alarm call or vague chirping that is very difficult to identify without being familiar with the habitat and the likely sounds there. The photo ID is excellent if the photo is excellent, but can be fooled by poor photo quality. My only criticism is that you really have to make sure you have the location set correctly, especially if you travel to different areas for birding. The location should be more prominently displayed so you don’t forget to change it..Long-time birderVersion: 3.0.5

AUDIO ID Review - Better & BetterI’ve been using Audio ID every time I bird and most times I go for a walk. Many times Merlin surprises me by identifying a species would not have expected. Two examples last week: 11:00 am I’m sitting on a 4th floor patio near several twenty story apartment buildings and I hear a Peregrine Falcon alarm cry. I look straight up and see an adult and a juvenile the latter beginning food clutched in its parent’s talons. Same day, 9 pm, I was walking a dog in the streets near UCLA campus and suddenly Merlin heard 2 Great Horned Owls faintly calling. I frequently visit a salt pan near Ballona Creek where there are 15-20 shorebird species including plovers, sandpipers, curlews, various terns and waders. Merlin is preforming much better in these cacophonous and multi species situations sorting species near and far usefully quickly when many are passing in flight. Final observation, sub species that are almost impossible to ID without audio like Belting's Sparrow, California Gnatcatcher and Ridgeways Light Foot Rail are reliable in known locations! I am grateful for Merlin’s hearing improving as mine (71 yrs) is deteriorating! BRAVO MERLIN.MWH Goshawk - PrincetonVersion: 3.3.1

Outstanding app very easy to use, intuitive! Thank you Cornell!This is an outstanding app! I rank this app #1 for information, ease-of-use, intuitiveness, fun! When I see a new bird, I can quickly identify it by typing just it’s color before it flies away! I’ve identify birds, my there song. The app is so sensitive. I didn’t even realize how many other birds were in the area and it told me their names too. Then, I can play their song back to them because there are hundreds of pre-recorded songs available on the app. If I want to test my knowledge up, Orthology, I can listen to songs and try again if I the birds myself. Due to the rise of rocks and predatory birds in my area, the app helps me to log the birds are in my backyard. I was using Cornell’s website then they switched to this app. Since developing the app, they’re having constant improvement. Thank you Cornell. I’ve had many many surgeries due to two car accidents. Watching my birds brings me such joy. This app makes it even better. I donate monthly to Cornell to save the birds and contribute to their research..10moonsVersion: 2.1.5

I love this appI started using this app a week ago, and it has been so much fun. It also has been good for me. I tend to be a go-go-go kind of person, but because I am so enjoying this app, I find myself slowing down more and taking a few minutes hear and there to go outside and see what birds are singing. The House Finch is my new favorite bird. If there is a bird singing a beautiful, happy song in my area, it is usually the House Finch. My husband encouraged me to take a break at the school where I work and eat my lunch outside just so I could tell him what birds are over there. There was a loud truck, but even over it, this app was able to identify the song of an Orange-crowned Warbler, which I had never heard/noticed before. It made my day and got me to stop thinking about work for a little bit. This app has become educational for me, but it is also like a wellness app as well. It makes me go outside and be still for little moments. When I do this, suddenly I become aware of a symphony of bird song around me. I am so grateful for this app..A.M. BibleVersion: 3.0.5

Always peaceful and calming to use this appMerlin bird id has not only helped me identify birds but has also helped me bring comfort and calmness to my mornings without me even intending to. I downloaded this out of sheer boredom and I now have such gratitude and admiration for all that worked to create this app and help others easily learn about birds. I feel more connected with nature now that I’m able to hear a bird and know exactly what it is. I know this review seems a little much but for a long time I had no interest in doing anything and this along with some other things was the start to my appreciation of the earth and nature which has seriously helped bring me out of a deep darkness and I sincerely thank the creators of this app. I hope that children will use this and be educated with the importance of birds and how they improve our ecosystem so that maybe they won’t be as destructive as we are now. I believe the ignorance of the role wildlife and how it benefits us contributes a lot to its destruction. Anyways have a good day and thank you for reading :).CharlatéVersion: 2.0.2

Simply the best app everI have never found an app that is this useful in my life! My only complaint is that I now have a half dozen bird books that have been rendered superfluous. I especially like the sound ID feature, which obviously is not a possibility with books. Thus far I have found it to be accurate and strong enough to pick up even distant calls. Another great feature is the list of likely birds based on date and location. One question I have regarding the bird packs: Why is the Midwest pack nearly five times as data intensive as the pack for the entire US? I’m only now beginning to compile my life list, and this feature too looks to be very useful. I’m a baby boomer who was a late adopter of cell technology, and I must admit, this app convinces me of the potential value. I recently identified a song I’d been hearing for years, a black-capped chickadee. I was long familiar with most of its sounds, but I never knew that the mournful, two note descending song was also part of its repertoire! Terrific, thanks so much..Gianni ChiaveVersion: 2.1.1

Wish this and Audubon would mixFor the most part I like this app (though I’m not a fan of the new update that makes it so you can’t search all birds, but only by areas), but I wish it and the Audubon app would combine to have the best of both. Merlin has picture and sound ID, which is great. Audubon makes it easy to see if there have been any reported sightings in your area of a specific bird or just the general sightings. With Audubon you can also search birds easier and add one if you already know what it is, where Merlin makes that difficult. Just this morning, I saw a blue jay (which aren’t really supposed to be in my area, but have been for the last few years) and Merlin wouldn’t give it as a possibility (only giving stellers jays which are actually supposed to be here) but I couldn’t mark it as seen in this app because it wouldn’t give me blue jay as a possible bird, and I couldn’t just add it like in Audubon. You also can’t edit your sightings in this app, so make sure you get your date, location and bird right or it’ll be stuck incorrect in your sightings forever..ComposingComposerVersion: 2.1.8

Great app!The app has definitely improved over the years. As with any app like this, it is important to confirm by listening to what was recorded and comparing to matches while also excluding other noises. My one wish for this app is that there would be an option to save or discard or something like that once you hit stop recording. If you amass a lot of recordings, it takes up a lot of space and you have to scroll to the bottom of the list to delete, since every recording is saved. Along the same theme - it would be awesome to identify some common non-bird species that sound like birds. It would also be great to be able to save specific clips in the app without having to export and edit. Being able to create one’s own library from identified bird clips would be awesome. Although I can appreciate that the app is more about identification, these features would improve the user experience. Great app! Looking forward to seeing how it develops in the future! Thank you!.Bird watcher1Version: 3.0

Fails on me frequently, otherwise would be greatI’m shocked this app still has 5 stars overall. I’ve used Merlin Bird ID for years and it really simplified the identification process. When I first started using it there was only a limited database and it was still being expanded so I was very forgiving when I bumped into its limitations. At this point though, I just get annoyed and mad that I can’t ID the birds I’m spotting. The app doesn’t let you ID birds it doesn’t believe are in your area, and it also doesn’t let you manually ID birds by name in the event the search doesn’t bring up your bird. For example, in Southern California I had a Red Shouldered Hawk in my neighborhood for several weeks. I thought it was very strange because they’re not normally in the area and I double, triple and quadruple checked the bird with various apps and field references listening to his call and markings to make sure it wasn’t the standard Red-Tailed Hawk. I wanted to ID the bird in Merlin to help the database and other birders but the app wouldn’t let me. Once again, this time in Maine, I’m staring at an Indigo Bunting (rare) eating at a feeder. Even with the regional packs downloaded Merlin won’t let me ID the bird. Very disappointing..JackthezombieVersion: 1.6.1

Love it!!!🦅🕊🦉🐦This app is really cool, and I think it will be helpful! I haven’t really gotten a chance to try it out much but I live in Iowa and I am going on a camping trip near the Canadian border in Minnesota soon and can’t wait to try it out. I’ve been browsing through the stuff and testing the app out, like trying to get the app to think of European starling, And a while ago I think I saw a great egret but I wasn’t exactly sure, I tried to look on here but it wasn’t able to show me it might have been how I was trying to identify it and where I put the marker I don’t exactly know where saw it. Something I would like to see added to the app is skipping a category, like the location or the date because sometimes you don’t exactly know when you saw the bird, or where it was, just an option to skip would be nice. otherwise I absolutely love this app! I like how you can listen to the birds sounds, and just browse through bird categories! Another fun option to the app would be to interact with other burgers and share what you have seen!🦆! I will definitely be recommending it to my bird friends! thanks!!!😁.American kestrel ladyVersion: 1.4.1

Easily learn about birds!The magic of Merlin is how it quickly narrows down the most likely bird. Great for beginners. 5 basic multiple choice questions (where, when, size, main colors, and what was the bird doing) will give a short list of birds that almost always has the bird in front of you. Or use photo id if you are close enough to get a good picture. Sound id can identify multiple birds simultaneously and then you can listen to recordings of each to learn what song goes with which bird. Great pictures, descriptions, multiple sound recordings of each species and maps make it easy to learn all about each bird. All this info does make the bird pack file sizes rather large, but start with at least your regional bird pack and you will see how great it is. Add bird packs of other regions if you are traveling there. This app can quickly and easily open you up to the world of birds around you and get you smiling about adding another bird to your life list of all the birds you have identified..J.H.iP6Version: 2.1.5

Great App, Small FlawMerlin is such a great app, and really fun to use and look for birds. It’s a great beginner app if you’re just starting out birding, but good for more experienced people too. The pictures are almost always extremely helpful, as are the maps, descriptions, and sounds. I haven’t tried photo or sound ID yet since I don’t have a good camera and usually don’t have the availability to record birds, but if I ever do I’m excited to try them. My only complaint is that when I want to add a bird to my life list, I have to go through Bird ID and have the bird I’ve identified as my bird appear as an option in order to select it. Usually this works fine, but often the bird I want to add doesn’t appear on the list, even if I fiddle with my selections. I can sign onto eBird and add it to my life list there, which will appear in the app and is fine, but as I’m more of an amateur birder I don’t find it necessary to have that much detail and it’s a pain to do. It would be helpful to have a place in the Merlin app to add to your life list without having to go through Bird ID..Libby-userVersion: 2.0.1

New LoveI have enjoyed Merlin for several years now. I love the wealth of bird knowledge at my fingertips that Merlin provides. I also enjoy keeping my life list and adding to it when I see and can identify a new bird for my list. But recently my pleasure in using Merlin has reached a new high for two reasons. First, I got a new phone with a better camera that has allowed me to identify some birds that I have seen and heard but not been able to photograph before. Secondly, I have spent time with both of my grandchildren lately, a six year old girl and a nine year old boy, and have introduced both of them to the app and to the idea of a life list. They are both very interested and I have loved getting to share Merlin and my love for birds with them! The boy spent time on my back porch recording bird sounds yesterday. He didn’t want to turn it off! He kept waiting to hear one more. We heard ten different birds in 20 minutes. And he is already learning to identify birds by their song. Thank you, Merlin!!.NinijllVersion: 3.1.1

Adore it but some problemsI have been using Merlin since I started birding a couple years ago and I absolutely love it! My only complaint is that after one of the updates some of the bird profiles are not showing up for me. By that I mean when I click on it the bird the app refuses to show me the pictures that go along for ID so when I want to ID a bird that I know is a warbler in fall plumage I don’t have a reference and it can be really frustrating. Apart from that I love the set up and bird packs. One suggestion I might have for the bird ID is to maybe give an option to specify if you knew it was a waterfowl or not because or something along those lines because guesstimating what will make the app understand you can be a bit difficult especially when you see the bird from a distance. And lastly just a funny story I guess. I was in my back yard using the sound ID and it claimed there was a trumpeter swan in my area (which let me tell you there are not) I go back to play the recording and lo and behold the app interpreted a car horn as a trumpeter swan 😂..BaliMynaVersion: 2.1.2

Take it with a grain of saltOverall great app. Being able to see your life list with actual birds is incredible! However, there are some fatal flaws. For one, the filters for the likelihood of species is bar chart correlated and not expert review, so it often displays strange and outright incorrect results. Secondly, and more importantly, is that it’s creating new birders that rely too heavily on the sound and photo ID features. The old method of hearing a bird and then finding it enough times until you recognize it just by ear has become obsolete. This is ok if Merlin was more accurate than a typical birder but it absolutely is not. I’ve tested merlin in mountain terrain and it has gotten about 90% correct species… and then it said water rail… on a glacier… in Montana. Additionally, it is terrible at picking up more distant or obscure calls. Thus it either doesn’t give you a result or a flawed one. So take all results with an incredibly large grain of salt. I tend to shoo people away from this feature even if that comes at the cost of a few less lifers on their end. For me, it’s the quality of scientific data that trumps all..Rajan_RaoVersion: 2.1.5

Excellent appThis app works very well, and has helped me learn bird calls. The ability to easily look at various pictures of one species helps a lot too, many ID books are lacking in providing images of basic/alternate plumage, male/female/juvenal birds, and various levels of feather wear, but this app usually has plenty of pictures to find examples of most conditions in which you would commonly find a bird. On issue I have is that the MacOS version window cannot be adjusted for size, I would really like to be able to extend the window vertically to be able to see more birds at once, this would greatly improve the app for a sort of passive learning of bird calls, and a feature where you couuld put several species into a quiz to allow yourself to try and improve identification between several tricky similar birds would be extremely helpful (I would gladly fork over 5-10$ for such a feature) for ID. The interfacing with EBird is also a really awesome feature..Poonmaster66Version: 3.0

Sound ID has been amazingI kinda rolled my eyes when this feature was added, expecting it to be wildly inaccurate. This has not been the case. I’m blown away by how well it’s worked. I’ve been able, on several occasions, to actually call birds in using the provided, documented recordings to get a better look and confirm the ID. I would give this a 4.5 if possible. My only complaint is something I believe can and will be fixed in the future. When using sound ID, after the app has offered a suggestion, it would be great if you could tap on and link directly to that bird for specific identification. Right now, you basically have to back out and start the traditional ID process from scratch when you already know what bird you’re looking at. On occasion, you’re not lead to the bird you are already certain you’ve seen and heard. A quick link between the sound ID and the actual individual species page where you can confirm “this is my bird!” would be an amazing improvement. In general, thank you for an amazing app!.UnclesneechVersion: 2.0.1

Wholesome fun!Let's be honest, I don't do reviews unless something is that awful or that great! Luckily it's the latter! Incredibly functional (and fun) features! Moved into the mountains and put up a window feeder. When I started seeing some cool looking birds I looked them up on Google, quickly found the app to ID them and I was sold! It's amazing at giving you the correct bird result. And don't even get me started on the sound ID! Omg we heard the weirdest freaking sound one night, I opened it up.. Instantly popped up whip-poor-will! And the sound ID is also an incredibly satisfying tool when you're somewhere where several kinds of birds are. My 2 year old begs me to open it so she can see the picture of the bird when it catches it's calls and it lights up with 5-7 different ones! And for the technically interested it will pinpoint which bird is making which call! I'm not a bird watcher.. just a nature lover and I have a whole new appreciation and curiosity for birds!.A.BostwickVersion: 2.1.6

DiscoveryThis app has made me more aware of the life surrounding me. Listening to the calls of birds I want to see has helped me become more attuned to what's around me and where to look for the birds around my feeders and whose calls might've been previously lost to my undiscerning ears. I've downloaded this app, and it's opened up a new world to me that I previously ignored. I am now excited to be a part of it and connect with and through it. I've even started traveling to new places in my area to see and hear birds I've previously missed. Driving down the highway has become exciting as I witness hawks and other large birds soaring during longer drives. Sometimes, I even pull over and pull out my new binoculars for a closer look. Without this app, I'm not sure I would have had the same access to or ease into the birding world, which has always seemed foreign to me. For this, I am forever grateful, and the birds at my feeders can say so, too!.SpeckxVersion: 3.2

Pretty good overallIt’s pretty good! Very helpful, but could be better. I shouldn’t have to drag the map every time I want to enter a bird I see in my backyard. It should default to my home or have a list of locations we can save and choose from instead of having random “this is where we think you saw it” on a map that is nowhere near my location. I’ve already saved my home as a place so why can’t it default? Weird. There should also be a function for me to enter the bird I see instead of going through all the IDing steps, it gets tedious and I can only imagine with the backyard bird count how less than pleasant tracking everything in the app will be. I’m happy to do so, but I feel like it’ll take a lot longer than necessary. We all know what juncos and scrub jays look like, we should be able to enter the birds we’re familiar with without ten steps of questions first. But! Glad this app exists, I’m by no means a bird expert, just a backyard bird enthusiast. Just wish it was a little more streamlined..MegabirderVersion: 2.1.5

Great for North America, a bust for AustraliaThe only thing I use Merlin for is sound recognition. It's almost miraculous how accurate it's been for me in North America, even for birds at a considerable distance. On a 10-week stay in eastern Australia, I downloaded the southeastern Australia package, which isn't trivial in size at >400MB. To my dismay, it didn't identify a single birdsong there, not even what turned out to be common species singing very close to where I was standing. Apparently the Merlin Australian packages are all about identifying birds by appearance, but in the dense forests and shrublands there, birds are far more often heard than seen. When I can see birds, I don't want to be looking at my phone scrolling through the choices. I take a photo or memorize as many details as I can and then use the excellent Australian Bird Guide (Menkhorst et al., 2023) book when I get back to my vehicle. The failure to identify any birdsongs was a disappointment. Without bird sound recognition I had no use for the Merlin southeastern Australian package and deleted it..AsdfrrcxghttVersion: 3.0.5

Great app w/ a couple bugsDifferent people have recommended this app to me, and I’m glad I finally got it! I’ve been learning about local birds for years now; the app is pretty easy to navigate, but I’m not sure how it would feel if I was brand new to birding. My favorite part has been adding birds to my life list and having access to many different bird calls. If you want to be able to identify birds by their sounds, this is a great place to start. My only frustration has been that it doesn’t always suggest the bird that you’re looking for after putting in the criteria. I sometimes have to go back and adjust the size of the bird or where I saw it in order for it to come up. This has happened mostly with scrub jays and acorn woodpeckers. I’m also not sure why it won’t let me add condors to my list. I’ve seen them several times soaring over southern California mountains but the app doesn’t generate the bird when I put in the criteria. Overall, I’ve definitely enjoyed using the app!.NotForNaughtVersion: 2.1.5

Sound Id is great, prompts for email are badI’ll start with what I love. The Sound ID is fantastic!! Through that feature alone I’ve ID’d many birds in my yard I didn’t know I had. It highlights the bird, plus back the sound it heard to ID it, and saves the recordings to listen back to which helps me learn the sounds. Now the part I don’t like is very annoying. I’ve been using this app for over a year and it keeps telling me my free trial has expired and I need to verify my email. I’ve done that, and I can even log onto my online Merlin account. But for some reason the app keeps popping up with this. I have figured out a couple work arounds but they don’t always work. First, I click the feature I want (sound ID) as soon as the app opens. If I wait even 3 seconds it won’t work. Second is if it pops up with the prompt I close the app and restart it. That is less likely to work but has worked about half the time. I would like to see a fix for this issue in an update. Love the features but stinks if you can’t even get to them for the prompt..DE in NCVersion: 2.1.8

Amazing AI TechnologyVery cool to take a photo and identify a bird. Then I can also listen to the bird calls to confirm it’s the bird I saw. If you are an avid border or just occasionally run into a bird you aren’t familiar with, use this app!.RjemmettVersion: 1.7.3

Very engaging appNot only can you ID birds by description but there are many resources in this app. I love to turn it on while out for a walk and watch the birds pop onto the screen as I’m hearing them. Very cool tool..CathergwyneVersion: 3.1.1

Just starting to explore the app.Great ID system. Just ID the great blue heron and listening to the sound provided I thought it was a poor choice. I am assuming that the bird recorded was in some kind of nesting area. 99% of the time when you see them and hear them is when they have been disturbed and take off in flight, squawking in annoyance. They sound like what I imagine a pterodactyl would sound like. Multiple recordings maybe? Listed from most common call to least..BAR0Version: 1.5.3

Great, but not prefect.I use use app all the time. It’s a huge tool in my birding adventures. A word of caution, when using the sound Id take it with a grain of salt. Always follow it up with a visual confirmation. The sound id feature identified my son a a long eared owl 4 different times this season. So… yeah not perfect! But very handy when it is right..CanadianAshleyVersion: 3.0.3

Nice!It’s really good for young birders! If you add a sound identifier, that would be awesome!.JeLauraVersion: 1.7.4

Best app on my iPhone BUTLost a star due to excessive battery usage. The app is great, but it uses about 1% a minute while I’m running it. I need to force it shut and reopen it to use it again to conserve battery. I’m not exaggerating. It literally will go down 10% in 10 minutes. Can you please fix this? If I’m out on a nature walk, I can’t use it the entire time or I will drive my phone dead. Yes, I’ve rebooted. I’ve deleted my sound recordings. This seems to be a recent glitch..AndreTheGeekVersion: 3.0.1

Awesome app!Love this app so much. Love how it listens to bird calls and songs and then identifies which bird it is. So wonderful! Love using it while having a cup of coffee outside - put it on while listening to birds and then find out which birds you’re listening to!.PackawallopVersion: 2.1.5

Great app!One of the best apps to Id birds. It has helped me figure out so many new ones at my feeder. I am giving it one less star because it doesn’t save the birds you have seen. I want it to record a list of all of my birds.Agent6249Version: 1.7.3

Great AppI would give this app 5 stars if Australia was included. I hope they add it soon.PaytonGirl34Version: 1.5.3

Great bird identifying and watching appHas descriptions, pictures, and helpful information to identify different birds.William aquaVersion: 3.5

AmazingReally incredible app. I'm impressed with how quickly and accurately it identifies birds even with significant background noise, or if there are several singing at the same time..Deviation42Version: 3.5

Gotta identify ‘em allThis is the REAL Pokémon Go. Not sure why it took me so long to make that connection. Lots of fun identifying random birdos while on vacation around the world. I got a Rare today!.M477-WVersion: 3.5

Used to be betterThis app was great at picking up on all the songs, calls & chip notes in my area (southern Alberta), now it doesn’t even pick up the obvious stuff. I just recorded five minutes of common birds in my yard and the app didn’t ID anything. There is also a delay while it tries to get your location, by which time the bird in question has flown..JodocusCdnVersion: 3.5

Yukon birdsThis is so the best and funniest app. It picks up on every bird. It’s amazing what birds we have that I never new. Love this app all my family has it now. We have contests all the time on who can find which bird..WhitehorseytVersion: 3.5

One of my favourite appsThis app helped to transform my mornings into peaceful, curious adventures..Jessdean612Version: 3.5

Best Bird AppI just love this app. I have my phone everywhere I go and I turn it on and capture birds in my area. It’s so great to pay more attention to my surroundings when sitting in my yard or hiking with my dogs. I have taken it on vacation and the captured birds there too! My collection is growing and I am excited to use it on an safari in the near future..HumbleTraveller04Version: 3.5

Bird ID turned me into a birdie!I enjoy bird watching much more now. This app is informative and easy to use..BeverlyCrowVersion: 3.5

Accessible for Bird Watchers!Finally can get to know which kinds of birds are nearby! Would love for the Explore page to display birds based on location without janky loading/doesn’t load (especially abroad, not in North Americas).NoNickName🤖Version: 3.5

Beyond amazingAny bird watcher has always wanted to identify a bird by sound and now you can! It’s incredible and works really well. Simply an awesome app. Thank you to the developers..Snowy JackVersion: 3.5

GénéralDernière mise à jour perdu beaucoup de photos dans la description des pisesux.Dico1957Version: 3.5

Very great app for identifying birdsI love this app, it has been my go-to aid in bird identification for 3 years now. I have used it to study calls and appearance, it’s fantastic! Identification is 95% accurate with only a few hiccups if there is background noise. Sometimes has trouble hearing birds from farther away. However much I love this app, I am disappointed that they got rid of the “search” feature! In the latest update you cannot search for birds by name - which I had previously used for studying :( it’s a shame, I hope that they bring it back.RoseyPosey17Version: 3.5

AwesomeSuper fun to be out in nature and find new birds, definitely suggest downloading this app.SbergleVersion: 3.5

Pretty good, but could be betterI love this app. It’s helped me identify so many birds in my area that I would’ve never seen otherwise. The sound identification helps when there’s a chorus of multiple birds; it shows what to keep a lookout for. However, it often misses obvious birds with its identification features. For example: - the step-by-step has never included for me any owls or hawks as possible matches. - the sound ID has never matched any of the many American coots on our pond but it has matched a distant dog barking to a great horned owl. - the picture ID also incorrectly identified a hoary redpoll as a common redpoll. Even when I tried using a screen shot of a hoary from the app it wouldn’t give any other options but the common. Also it would be nice to include an option to add birds on your life list manually instead of relying solely on the app’s ability to identify birds. This app is great for a beginner but experienced birders would likely be using this app only in a limited way while they rely on their own identification expertise. I hope this review is helpful. Thanks..J0M023Version: 3.5

Very goodI like birds. this app is the best..Lobster399Version: 3.5

Like thisLike this, but can you add an update where you can search for packs containing the bird?.Mommy raquelVersion: 3.5

Amazing and very helpful App!This App is incredible! In the field you can quickly identify the birds just from a photo off the back of your camera! So great to have so much valuable information at your fingertips! And it is free! But consider donating to Cornell Lab to help keep it that way!.DewphotosVersion: 3.5

Awesome AppLove this App. Record sounds & identifies bird or search by description… step by step. Handy to have when enjoying natures feathered friends.Nature lover 1113Version: 3.5

Best identification app everI will love to be able to use more than one language at once for each bird.Robert MFVersion: 3.4

Fun easy to use and interestingI learned a lot and it’s a very well made app.DdeddddwueuhehdheuwnwbVersion: 3.4

Excellent app!Excellent app and amazing technology (sound and photo id). My rating would be 5 stars if the bird size in inches and centimetres was indicated..Don1234$Version: 3.4

Has a few problemsI love it but I can’t sign into it no matter what I try but it’s amazing..Moim10Version: 3.4

Best bird app!Handy, incredibly informative.JennitrumpetVersion: 3.4

Bird NerdMerlin Bird ID makes learning about birds so easy and fun! I often share your app with friends who are curious about birds and their behaviors. 🤓.Marianne CecileVersion: 3.4

Great toolPerfect? No. But as an in for the regular person who has little or even moderate knowledge it’s great. Both to learn bird songs, but also just discover there are more birds around than they see..Joey JoJo Senior ShabadooVersion: 3.4

Wow I just can’t get enoughI Watch birds but I couldn’t find out what they were but when I got this app I could identify everything (birds) and it is amazing.HujukingVersion: 3.4

Better than meditating every morningInstead of meditating (which was somewhat helpful to me), I sit on my balcony in the morning/afternoon and record calls or birdsong. I’ve discovered so much just in my own backyard. Educational, delightful and calming app!.Pang DynastyVersion: 3.4

What an amazing appIf only all apps could be executed this way. So much information. My only concern is that when I do a bird search under the explore tab, and find the bird I want to add to my life list, there is no button to add. Seems something is missing. Looks like a bug. I then have to go through the identify tab the long way to be able to add the bird to my list..Universal GVersion: 3.4

Best app ever!Love this app, the bird sounds help me identify many birds I hear in my yard or out hiking. The best app out there for bird lovers..JAX on SSIVersion: 3.4

Game changerMerlin has changed (enhanced) my birding and increased my interest in birding by ear. Merlin and I don’t always agree and each of us hears birds the other doesn’t, but it is a fantastic partner and aid..Serious feedbackVersion: 3.4

Very User FriendlySo easy to use and very helpful identifying with sounds or pictures or a description. Has an extensive range and gives you choices. Excellent and a pleasure to use..Stick CurlerVersion: 3.4

HelpfulThis has been a great resource for me as I have lived abroad for the past 5 years, in two different countries. The Sound ID not working so well for me in SE Asia, where the data base is sparce. I will try and do my part and submit sound recordings whenever possible!.OhHarvestMoonVersion: 3.4

Love it!This app makes her being outside, within the backyard or on the nature walk, so much more meaningful and informative..KGGB4627Version: 3.4

Love but missing one thingLove this app but wish it would show wingspan!.LaurenjmrVersion: 3.4

Sound ID and call library amazing!!Really a wonderful app. One of the few online sources of happiness and wonder..Montreal-LVersion: 3.4

IDs birds very wellI just record and it identifies the right birds all the time. great app.Skura.wwVersion: 3.3.1

Great app untilThis is an awesome app and I use it all the time until the most recent big iOS update a couple weeks ago. Now the spectrograms are no longer recorded. The app lists the birds it hears but I can’t replay the sound to hear it myself. All permissions are turned on at my end. This is an app or iOS issue. Please fix it 😕.Brendah_Version: 3.4

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Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab Negative Reviews

Current upgrade: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it3.1 isn’t doing it for me. I’ve used it several times now and like it even less. Bird of the Day is an okay idea for beginners, but the image is huge and needs to be dismiss-able. It’s distracting. What I really need on the main page is a huge Record Button. Pre-recorded species calls and songs are now harder to access. I used to be be able to tap one of the top tabs and see a full list of sample songs and calls. Now, it’s tap-swipe, tap-swipe to see an incomplete list that requires more tapping. This is not an improvement. I used to be able to tap the Maps tab, then quickly swipe between species maps to compare ranges; now it’s just a pain. Finally, it’s still lacking the 4-letter alpha codes; so you have to laboriously type in the entire bird name to find your species of interest in the field (“yellow-throated…” is a lot to type on the fly, compared to “YT” as with eBird.) Type in “Bell’s” and you get zero results for Bell’s Vireo at the apostrophe. Sound ID is helpful but often wrong…I imagine that tech is a work in progress. But there is still no way to report that Merlin is making an incorrect ID (eg Merlin kept calling Osprey which was basically impossible at that waterless location, and the bird was actually a N Cardinal…but there is no way to provide specific corrective feedback.) Can I roll back to the previous excellent version??.ChezButtonsVersion: 3.1

Email confirmation issuesThis is a great app however, it’s has issues with email confirmation. I downloaded the app and when you make an account you are required to confirm you email and you are given a 5 day grace period to do so. The app reminded me to confirm my email address when I went to use and so I did, a few times actually, since the app reminded me a couple more times after I did it the first time. Looking back I should have known something was wrong when I was stopped by the app more than once to confirm my email but I didn’t think anything of it until I began to have issues. At the end of the grace period I opened the app and was met with a message saying “your 5 day grace period is over. You must confirm your email to continue. Please check your email.” So I did, and there was no email. I hit the send again button multiple times and have even tried re-entering my email address to see if that would solve my problem. I also deleted and reinstalled the app and I am still without a email from Merlin and without access to the app. I don’t know what can be done at this point. when I heard about this app I was very excited to use it but I probably will never be able to use Merlin since they are clearly having some issues which is not allowing me to use it..BipxdVersion: 3.0.5

Nothing but issuesWorked well for a couple of months and now whenever I open it I get an email saying my five day grace period is over and I need to confirm via an email they’re sending me. Except it’s never received, no where, junk ir anywhere else. Added Cornell email to my contact list, no difference. Uninstalled and reinstalled, works for a couple of times, then we’re back to a five day grace period notification..Ssvrtlana1959Version: 2.1.2

MacBook AirWhy can I no longer open Merlin on my MacBook Air? It used to work perfectly, but now, nothing..GiGi Ma CarolVersion: 3.6

Account and passwordsI used to use Merlin without creating an account. It worked well. I decided to create an account and now Merlin does not accept my old nor new usernames/passwords making the Merlin I used and losing 2 years of work..DsbwiluVersion: 3.5

What has happened?!?This app used to be wonderful for identifying birds. I used it extensively in North America and Latin America. Recently, it has become “tone deaf” to identifying any birds. My bird packs are up to date and running the latest version of the app. Very disappointing..ChergoodVersion: 3.5

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