I'm not a dedicated installer of apps for my phone, but my wife recommended this one, and I've been very pleased and impressed with it thus far.
It's called Merlin Bird ID, it's produced by Cornell Labs, and it's FREE*.
For anyone with an interest in wild birds, it's really useful. You can read about a bird you are interested in, you can identify a bird you don't know by a systematic analysis of its appearance and - wonder of wonders! - you can identify a bird by its song. One routine (though mind-blowing) feature is that you may start a recording on your phone, and as individual types of bird are identified by the software their names are listed.
The weather hasn't been great since I installed it, but my next mini-project is to take it for a walk down to the beach, because I really do need to understand more about the seabirds we have here. This reads like an advert, but it isn't - anyone out there who shares my enthusiasm for wild birds should maybe think about having a look.
When you first install the app, you are invited to download one of the available libraries of bird data and songs. I chose UK and Northern Europe - good choice. Only quibble so far is that there is no record of the Nightingale in that library - not that it matters a lot, since our chances of hearing a nightingale here are approximately nil, but it is a British resident. Maybe I can download more than one library? - no idea. Must check this out.
My wife has the Android version, I have the iPhone one - all very good and easy to use.
* the App Store, when asked to search for Merlin, came back with a different app with a very similar name and function, which - if you read carefully - is free for 7 days and then you will be billed about $30 a month. Presumably someone, somewhere was bunged to perform this sleight of hand, but in this age of Post-Truth marketing I guess we just have to remain alert. Whatever - watch your step.
Aha! Great minds. I recently downloaded Merlin, but haven't got around to doing anything with it yet. For a couple of years I've been suggesting to my companion on our walks that an app that recognised bird songs would be handy, then I saw a reference to Merlin.
ReplyDeleteThis morning (Thursday 25th) I was woken by the birds at 03:40 - well before sunrise - lovely noise, but a real racket! I made myself a cup of tea, and took Merlin for a sit on the front steps, to see who was making all the fuss. Almost all Thrushes and Blackbirds, with the occasional chirp from a Blackcap; it was the turdidae who were really going for it at that time of the morning.
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