Identify Birds by Sound or Photo with Your iPhone and Merlin

If you’ve ever heard a bird and wondered what it was, the free Merlin Bird ID app for iPhone offers one of the easiest ways to find out. Developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Merlin has quietly become a favorite among everyone from casual birdwatchers and more serious enthusiast birders alike, thanks to its ability to identify birds by sound of a bird call, photo of a bird, or even a few simple questions.

What makes Merlin especially compelling is how little effort it requires to use, all you need is your iPhone and the Merlin app. You don’t need to know anything about birds to start using it, making it perfect for everyone from beginners, the curious, to lifelong Birders. It works this simply; open the app, tap a button, and let it listen, and in moments it will report back the type of bird. Think of Merlin as kind of like the Shazam music identifier, but for bird calls and bird song.

• Grab Merlin free from the App Store for iPhone
• Check out the Merlin page on AllAboutBirds.org
• Check out eBird.org for more birding information

Merlin is available free for iPhone, and for Android too.

Identify Birds by Sound in Real Time

The standout feature in Merlin is its Sound identification tool. When Sound ID is activated, the app listens to the environment and analyzes bird calls as they happen, identifying species in real time. And yes, it will identify multiple different birds.

It’s surprisingly effective, sit in a backyard, a park, forest, or even near an open window, and you’ll start seeing names appear as birds chirp nearby. Merlin highlights each detected species and often updates as new sounds are picked up.

Identify Birds with a Photo too, or Answer a Few Questions

If you prefer a more traditional approach to birding and bird identification, Merlin also supports photo identification. Take a picture of a bird from the bird app, or upload one from your Photos library, and the app will suggest likely matches.

There’s also a handy easy guided identification mode, where Merlin asks a few simple questions, like; where did you see the bird, what size was the bird, what colors were prominent, and then it narrows down the possibilities based your answers, your location, and the time of year.

The identification feature is cool enough that honestly it makes me wish it were included as part of the flower, plants, and object recognition “Lookup” feature of iPhone Photos app. Maybe Apple will introduce such a feature in the future? If we can read laundry symbols, wouldn’t it be great to identify birds and wildlife too?

Massive Bird ID Database, Perfect for Beginners & Birding Enthusiasts Alike

Merlin draws identification data from an extensive dataset maintained by the Cornell University Lab, including global bird observations and recordings. That means results are tailored not just to what a bird looks or sounds like, but also to where you are located and using the app, and what’s likely to be where you are. The app stays relevant for many different regions too, so whether you’re at home, out and about, on vacation, traveling abroad, or anywhere else, you’ll be able to identify birds.

For beginners, Merlin is super easy to use and offers a low barrier to entry for bird identification. And for experienced birders and enthusiasts, it’s a powerful and convenient field tool that can confirm identifications, pick up sounds you might miss, or identify a bird call that is new to you.

Merlin isn’t perfect (but is anything?) and if there are many layered sounds it can have difficulty being accurate, so if you’re in a loud city environment with bird calls but lots of honking horns, or a neighborhood with a dozen barking dogs drowning out a bird song, don’t expect perfection. Overall it works impressively well though, especially for a free app.

For anyone even mildly curious about the natural world and birds, this is an easy app to recommend. Start by identifying a single bird, and in not too long you’ll be recognizing that specific call, without even opening your phone, and you can soon move onto identifying more.

I first heard about the Merlin app on a podcast some time ago, downloaded it, and forgot about it, but thanks to 9to5mac for reminding us this app exists!