A free app for iOS and Android, Merlin Bird ID can identify species quickly and precisely based on photos, song and other characteristics. — dpa
BERLIN: Is there a bird singing beautifully outside your window but you don’t know what kind? Take a quick snap or record some of the chirping and you can find out using the Merlin Bird ID app.
A free app for iOS and Android, it can identify birds quickly and precisely based on photos, singing and other characteristics. Merlin Bird ID was developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a non-profit organisation at Cornell University in New York.
To identify the bird, the app draws on the Macaulay Library, a scientific archive containing more than 14 million natural history audio and video recordings and photos.
Merlin Bird ID offers various methods for bird identification: users can answer questions, upload photos of birds or record bird songs. Registration is requested but not required.
For detailed information on native bird species, you need to download data on the relevant region, for example Western Europe.
However, even without doing that you can still identify birds using recordings.
The app also allows you to create your own lists to document bird species you have encountered.
Whether you’re a beginner bird watcher or an experienced one, Merlin Bird ID will help you to discover and document the local avian world. – dpa
