Merlin Bird ID • Hacker News Board

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#11

Post by _whiteCaps_ » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 4:28 AM UTC

NAHWheatCracker wrote: post #3

I was wondering what kind of bird was chirping outside my window this morning. I should have had this app.

I don't know anything about birds but it seems to be very accurate for the ones that I can also visually compare.

The only one I've seen it misidentify is a starling but apparently those are excellent mimics so I don't blame the app.

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#12

Post by jedc » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 4:36 AM UTC

I was visiting Yosemite a year-ish ago and a guide recommended this app and it was fantastic. My kids also loved getting the real-time info on what they were hearing, and trying to spot the various kinds of birds.

Strongly recommend it (though admittedly, I don't use it often in suburbia)

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#13

Post by waetsch » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 4:38 AM UTC

Love this app.

I never thought I would ever actively watch for birds when I hear them. Or that I would be able to say "this is clearly a Wren". Or that I have a my favourite bird (Wren as well btw).

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#14

Post by CobrastanJorji » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 4:45 AM UTC

I won Merlin once. I didn't know you could win the game, but I was relaxing in my backyard and suddenly it notified me that I had found the merlin. I was so excited. I hadn't known that a merlin was a kind of bird.

I do wonder how accurate Merlin is. I certainly can't tell the bird calls apart, and I don't usually spot the bird in question, so it could just be lying to me half the time, and I'd probably never notice. But I sure do love the app as an amateur bird-liker.

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#15

Post by temp0826 » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 4:50 AM UTC

I love this app!! This and iSeek (plant/animal identification via photos) are a blast. Lived in the jungle in souteast Mexico the last couple years and I'm constantly reaching for these.

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#16

Post by OptionOfT » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 4:53 AM UTC

We have a Mockingbird in our backyard (or more precisely, we live in his/her territory) that impersonates a Gila woodpecker. We were able to record it. Playing back the video and using Bird ID actually shows it as a Gila Woodpecker.

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#17

Post by hydroweaver87 » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 4:56 AM UTC

iNaturalist is yet another nice app

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#18

Post by pixelesque » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 5:06 AM UTC

Note that the recent iOS update seems to have introduced a bug whereby even after stopping recording, the app in the background will continue to use SIGNIFICANT battery life, so I've needed to start force-closing the app after using it.

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#19

Post by WCSTombs » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 5:11 AM UTC

I'm a little disappointed that the photo on the landing page isn't, you know, a merlin [1].

[1] https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/merlin/id

Re: Merlin Bird ID

#20

Post by ainiriand » Wed, Jun 04, 2025, 5:24 AM UTC

I identified a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-whiskered_bulbul in our garden thanks to this amazing app! Me and my wife love birding and at the end of the year we compare our scores, it is playful entertainment. And we are introducing our daughter to it, it is so cute when she identifies one!