An app every birder should have
Birdwatchers enjoy their equipment, including highdollar kits of binoculars, telescopes and digital cameras. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are about 45 million birders in the United States — and they spend billions annually while pursuing their avian adventures.
In my 50 years of experience observing feathered bipeds, by far one of my best pieces of equipment that any birder can use is absolutely free.
Merlin Bird ID is a nocost, downloadable application created by the venerable Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Their mission is to interpret and conserve the Earth's biological diversity through research, education and citizen science focused on birds in nature.
Merlin Bird ID is easy to use and portable; simply download it to a device and use it to identify birds in one of three ways: sound, sight or with a useruploaded photograph.
When the sound tool is activated, Merlin Bird ID uses the device's internal microphone to listen for birds and when it records a birdsong, the application identifies the species. Simultaneously with this identification, Merlin Bird ID shows a picture of the species on the screen for easy identification. This can be incredibly helpful to bird lovers, especially when trying to differentiate between similar-looking species such as various types of sparrows.
Merlin Bird ID also provides the possibility of identifying species by answering a few basic questions regarding bird size, shape and activity. This vital
birding tool also contains details of a species' life cycle just one click
away.
With this outstanding tool, there isn't much need
to thumb through cumbersome field guides.
Multiple studies document the positive health benefits of listening to birdsong. Merlin Bird ID provides outstanding tools that will enhance and improve the skills of any birder.
Scott McMorrow is an Inverness resident. IJ readers are invited to share their stories of love, dating, parenting, marriage, friendship and other experiences for our How It Is column, which runs Tuesdays in the Lifestyles section. All stories must not have been published in part or in its entirety previously. Send your stories of no more than 600 words to lifestyles@marinij.com. Please write How It Is in the subject line. The IJ reserves the right to edit them for publication. Please include your full name, address and a daytime phone number.