My wife and I learnt to do a bird call with our hands, the app actually identified it as a type of dove, we were very surprised
Merlin Bird ID
71–80 of 221 posts
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#72Amazing technology. Sometimes I wish they would gamify this tech, or make it into a social activity. A kind of 'pokemon go' for birdwatching. It would be a great opportunity to get people more interested in nature and conservation.
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#73I'm friends with some of the researchers on the Sound ID portion of this app! The team's gone to great lengths to make sure the machine learning models and evals are solid. Under the hood, Sound ID is a great example of how "domain-expert-driven" careful research can give more reliable results than just feeding in data and hoping for the best.
I would like to see a version of the app that assigns names, as in 'Fred', 'Bertha', 'Kevin' to given birds, algorithmically. I get the same birds in my garden and I already know what species they are, but, I wouldn't mind knowing if my favourite birds have got new mates, or, if I am down the road, some way from home, to confirm that it is 'Kevin' that I see, as in the same 'Kevin' that frequents my bird bath.
Consistently assigning names to different blackbirds might be tricky, but, for other birds, I am sure that some AI algorithm could do this.
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#74Note 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.
It did that for me a while back but seems better now, I had hoped it was fixed…
I installed it for the first time four days ago after being told about it by a relative...
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#75It's worth being aware that the developer of the Android app asserts that "...this app doesn't share user data with other companies or organizations" but according to Exodus Privacy this is not true: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.labs.me...
Exodus can only show what code is likely included, not what data is sent out. For example I'd classify a crash stacktrace without any extra information as not sharing user data. Exodus doesn't contradict the authors, but they could specify what the services are used for.
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#76This has been great, it helped me ID an Osprey, I was where I didn't think they'd be.
Its ID'd a Peregrine Falcon twice, I've still not seen it.
It does list Red Kites as Common Buzzards, I am not sure how to provide feedback to update this.
I tend to use Merlin, and Seek as I walk around Essex. Seek doesn't seem to know about Sessile Oaks.
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#77I would love for someone to make a birding/citizen scientist app that's well gamified. This is basically pokemon. You go places and find different creatures and collect them.
For those interested in birdwatching, I also recommend checking a web app: https://adsb.exposed/?dataset=Birds
Explanation: https://clickhouse.com/blog/birds
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#78I 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.…
Fellow amateur bird-liker here. Usually when you ID a bird it’ll provide you with a boatload of other recordings you can compare against if you’re unsure.
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#79I love this app, but after going back to review some of the rare birds I’ve noticed that many of my saved recordings have inexplicably disappeared.
I do wish it could also identify other insects/animals. I originally got the app to identify whatever bird sounded like a squeaky door or wooden swing, and eventually saw that it was a squirrel.
Re: Merlin Bird ID
#80In general as a bird watcher i’ve been extremely impressed by this tech. I generally trust it. There’s only a couple of times i’ve been sceptical of it’s id and thats where there’s similar species in the area. Eg. I’m not convinced there really is a purple finch where i live when all i see is house finches all day. But i could be wrong too! It’s proven itself enough that i’m not ready to call it wrong on that one.
The only errors I've seen it make with common birds in the UK are also with finches - specifically with the greenfinch's "at rest" twitter, which it consistently mistakes for a goldfinch.
The two are visually distinctive but, in Merlin's defence, I can't tell them apart by ear either!