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What Bird Is That? Free Merlin App From Cornell Lab Of Ornithology Can Help

Published Date

September 9, 2014

Image from Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 

Whether you're a serious bird watcher or just have a casual curiosity about the avian world, there's a good chance that at some point in a park visit you've wondered, "What bird was that?" If you're a smart phone user, a free app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology dubbed "Merlin" can help provide the answer.

A Cornell Lab of Ornithology spokesperson says "The iPhone version of the app, released in January 2014, has been downloaded more than 230,000 times and has helped people identify more than 700,000 birds."

Now a version for Android users has been released as well.

Jessie Barry at the Lab says the app was designed with beginners in mind so it's fun and easy to use, with no previous bird watching experience required. The app includes more than 1,000 bird sounds, 2,000 images, ID tips, and range maps for North America's 400 most commonly encountered bird species.

According to the folks at the Lab, "Like magic, Merlin presents you with a list of the birds that best match your location, time of year, and description of the bird. Unlike magic, however, Merlin's uncanny ability to help you identify birds is based on science."

"Merlin knows which birds are most likely to be within a 30-mile radius of where you saw the bird-at the time when you saw it," said Barry. "It's the first app to tap into 70 million observations contributed by birders to the eBird citizen-science project, along with 3 million descriptors of birds to help match what you saw."

You can download the free app at this link, or look for it in Google Play or the App Store. 

If you don't have a smart phone but wish you could use the app, help may be on the way. The Cornell Lab website says they "are developing a web-based version of Merlin that will not require a smartphone. It’s not quite ready for prime time yet."

Like to get an idea how the app works? Check out the following short video.

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