For those birding lovers, this app is incredible. You can literally sit your phone down and let it listen and it will identify birds that it hears from long distances away all at the same time and then playback the sounds and songs they make.

We have a large bush outside our back door and often hear several birds at the same time, and could not identify which was which. This app captured them all and identified them independently.

It even caught a blue heron that is 2 to 3 properties away in a creek.

Was made aware of this app by a friend in June. It is really accurate and handy.

Yup, I use it as well. Great app.

3 things.

I used the sounds to call and confuse some turkeys at work last month. Had them gobbling at me, which is odd for July.

The most common bird by my house are mocking birds, which can confuse it.

It's frightening to realize just how sensitive your phone is and just how much (how far away and how quite things) it can hear.

Yep Merlin is an app I frequently use here.

Merlin user here, too. I've never used the sound part, have to give it a try.

Have been using it for a couple years, it is pretty amazing.

It's a great app.

It's nice to know who it is singing away, behind all the shrubbery!

Didn't know this existed. I admit I have been curious as to what birds frequent my neighborhood.

Use of sound id leaves huge recordings in your phone memory. Delete them regularly.

Yup, have had it for a few years. Enjoy it.

I used BirdGenie for a while, but it really wasn’t as accurate as I had hoped. I pretty much used it to see it work on known birds rather than actually identifying unknown. Of course, I want that important feature to be accurate as possible, but at the time, it was just for confirmation.

I will look into this app. I’m a bird photographer, and when my wife retires at the end of this year, I’m hoping to be back in the field as I had in the past. A good app like this will certainly be a plus.

I am going to give this app a try. Thanks.

Thanks for posting the MERLIN APP information.

More than 5 years ago (?) I posted a picture here asking if you folks could ID a bird I spotted in a tree near my house. General consensus was a Kite. I did more research and best guess was a Mississippi Kite, although we are west of their normal range, thinking it would be nice if we ended up with a nesting pair. I've seen, what I assumed was them flying around for the past few years, especially this summer. MERLIN APP confirmed their call this morning.

That’s really neat. I’ve had the app for several years, but haven’t used it for a while and I didn’t know about the sound ID.

Seems to work great.

quote:

Originally posted by Muddflap:
That’s really neat. I’ve had the app for several years, but haven’t used it for a while and I didn’t know about the sound ID.

Seems to work great.

Same here. I have had it installed for some time, but never explored the Sound ID function. I tried it out yesterday, and it is amazingly sensitive. It picked up a Mourning Dove that I could barely hear myself, plus several other birds I did not hear at all. All were native species that I have seen up closer and identified previously. Except for one flyer. A mallard duck in the desert?