Identifying Garden Birds
Many gardeners are also interested in birds—either as avid “birders” or as casual observers. However, if you’re like me, you haven’t spent enough time with the Audubon folks to be able to identify all of the birds that appear in your garden or in the trees near your home. Enter the Merlin app.
According to the application website, Merlin Bird ID is a machine learning-powered bird ID tool created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Sophisticated identification based on sound and visuals was developed in collaboration with places like CalTech with support from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and Google.
Observers have submitted millions of photos and sounds to the Cornell Ornithology program and these archived photos and sounds are used as the basis for bird ID. If you have ever participated in any of Cornell’s birding citizen science projects and submitted your findings to eBird, you may have been a part of this project.
The app is free, super easy to download and available for use with iOS and Android devices. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers Merlin Bird ID free because it’s their mission to advance the understanding and protection of birds.
Merlin can help you identify birds anywhere in the world. Identification is location-based. A specific, downloadable “pack” contains identification information about birds known to frequent that location. For example, on my phone I have the “US: West Coast” pack installed. There is an option to add the larger “US and Canada: Continental” pack. Bird ID packs range from Angola (Africa) through Mainland China, the Palearctic and on to Zimbabwe. You can use the app without Internet access, if you have added the location before going off-line.
But, how does this help identify the birds at your feeder or bird bath, or hidden in the trees? My favorite way is to use the “Sound” button on the “identify” page on the app. Press the green button and hold your phone into the air. Using the phone’s microphone, it will “listen” for bird sounds and present a list, with a photo, of likely birds. The app will highlight the bird again when the sound is repeated. One morning, I heard a loud bird screech nearby and couldn’t place the sound. Grabbing my phone, I activated the Merlin app. Immediately, it identified “Red-shouldered Hawk.” I thought I was familiar with the red-shoulder’s cry, but this was much closer and louder than usual! Thank you, Merlin!
There are also other options for identification including taking a photo (similar to plant ID). You can also answer a very short set of questions about the bird—such as location and color—if you can see it but can’t hear it or take a photo.
Merlin provides a local “Bird of the Day” and will offer a “daily reminder” about it. You can research any bird by name and learn scientific names, if you choose. This is an easy-to-use, fun exploration of your garden or any other environment from a different perspective.
Rebecca Miller-Cripps is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener of Tuolumne County.
