Merlin Bird ID - Solve your (North American) birding mystery
June 11, 2015 11:52 AM Subscribe
The fantastic Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers two ways to identify that bird you saw, if you were bird watching in North America, with Merlin. You can download the free app for Android or iPhone and go through a series of prompts to ID that bird, or upload a photo from your desktop, note where and when you took the photo, tag the tip of the beak, the eye and the tail of the bird and like magic (and with use of the eBird database), you can learn about the birds you see.
I am not immensely interested in ornithology but that doesn't stop this from being super cool! Thanks for posting it! I imagine this will be great for many, many groups including parents and teachers with kids more passionate about birding than they are.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:07 PM on June 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:07 PM on June 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Every time I go hiking or camping I wish there was some app for my phone that would let me easily ID the things around me (birds, plants, scat, fish, etc). This looks like a step towards that.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:13 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:13 PM on June 11, 2015
Maybe with this I'll finally be able to put a name to those J shaped blue birds that visit my feeder.
I like identification things like this but unfortunately I have no use for it :(
Birding family circus
posted by FallowKing at 12:13 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like identification things like this but unfortunately I have no use for it :(
Birding family circus
posted by FallowKing at 12:13 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
600MB in a additional files on Android so you may need to clear some space. I know I did. Who needs Hearthstone anyways?
posted by thecjm at 12:21 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by thecjm at 12:21 PM on June 11, 2015
Downloaded it when I saw it announced in one of my 100+ newsfeeds, and it's rather nice! My biologist daughter loves it too.
It's not flawless AI-smart, it's just a binary tree, but it's pretty comprehensive and good at what it's designed to do - let you identify dem birbs. Particularly helpful is how it shows immature/young/adult/male/female versions of them, which of course can be startlingly different.
My first pony request would be that it would save "My Birds" somehow.
For people nitpicky about privacy, it a) works fine without giving it permission to grab your location from your phone (you put something in manually) and b) the email subscription/newsletter frequency is not overwhelming at all and actually rather interesting.
A+ would recommend
posted by sidereal at 12:21 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's not flawless AI-smart, it's just a binary tree, but it's pretty comprehensive and good at what it's designed to do - let you identify dem birbs. Particularly helpful is how it shows immature/young/adult/male/female versions of them, which of course can be startlingly different.
My first pony request would be that it would save "My Birds" somehow.
For people nitpicky about privacy, it a) works fine without giving it permission to grab your location from your phone (you put something in manually) and b) the email subscription/newsletter frequency is not overwhelming at all and actually rather interesting.
A+ would recommend
posted by sidereal at 12:21 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
(to be clear, my comment was about the phone app and not the uploading image capability - haven't tried that yet)
posted by sidereal at 12:25 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by sidereal at 12:25 PM on June 11, 2015
Every time I go hiking or camping I wish there was some app for my phone that would let me easily ID the things around me (birds, plants, scat, fish, etc). This looks like a step towards that.
There are a few apps that identify hills and mountains, as listed in this blog post. Peakfinder has a website, but if you get the app version of this or other similar apps, you get the "augmented reality" view with the names hovering over peaks as you use your camera screen as a viewfinder. It's especially fun when you're inside, with no mountains visible, at least for a while until you realize that you would probably prefer a view of the mountains and hills.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:30 PM on June 11, 2015
There are a few apps that identify hills and mountains, as listed in this blog post. Peakfinder has a website, but if you get the app version of this or other similar apps, you get the "augmented reality" view with the names hovering over peaks as you use your camera screen as a viewfinder. It's especially fun when you're inside, with no mountains visible, at least for a while until you realize that you would probably prefer a view of the mountains and hills.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:30 PM on June 11, 2015
Every time I go hiking or camping I wish there was some app for my phone that would let me easily ID the things around me (birds, plants, scat, fish, etc). This looks like a step towards that.
Yeah, I'm not a birder, but when I'm out and about I like knowing what things are. It's always cool to be able to identify a few more of the things around you.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:33 PM on June 11, 2015
Yeah, I'm not a birder, but when I'm out and about I like knowing what things are. It's always cool to be able to identify a few more of the things around you.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:33 PM on June 11, 2015
Absolutely incredible. I am a birder. I very much enjoy sighting and identifying birds. I tested the desktop feature on several photos that I have. Merlin nailed it each time. Incredible.
posted by Flood at 12:33 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Flood at 12:33 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Here's a website that walks you through some basic scat identification, and the option to pay them $5 for a specific ID (surprisingly, they're not on Fiverr yet :)).
posted by filthy light thief at 12:37 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 12:37 PM on June 11, 2015
Metafilter: some basic scat identification, and the option to pay them $5
posted by sidereal at 12:39 PM on June 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by sidereal at 12:39 PM on June 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
AHHHHHHH , when will someone make a similar one for Western Europe??? Just today I was chasing an extremely shy bird from tree to tree, cursing myself for forgetting the goddamn bird book again. (Turned out it was a European green woodpecker, I was able to look it up later.)
Also, is this the thread where I share that JUST yesterday, after years of looking, I finally saw a Hoopoe?! That was basically the only item on my bucket list. I can die happy now.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 12:40 PM on June 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
Also, is this the thread where I share that JUST yesterday, after years of looking, I finally saw a Hoopoe?! That was basically the only item on my bucket list. I can die happy now.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 12:40 PM on June 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
I have a great crested flycatcher hanging around out back! Now I know what he is!
posted by mittens at 12:41 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by mittens at 12:41 PM on June 11, 2015
I once photographed this thing, which looks like someone lost the bird assembly instructions. Turns out to have been a yellow-crowned night heron, doing a heron-like thing of trying to keep cool. I wasn't sure it was even real. I wonder if it would break Merlin.
posted by sidereal at 12:48 PM on June 11, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by sidereal at 12:48 PM on June 11, 2015 [6 favorites]
I'd love to have something like this that also identified birds by their calls.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:55 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 12:55 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
I have been waiting for this! Not that I have luck getting photos of birds, really, but another bird ID ap is a good thing.
posted by rtha at 12:56 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by rtha at 12:56 PM on June 11, 2015
I LOVE this app.
We bought our first home a year ago, and I immediately filled the bird feeder outside the breakfast room window with sunflower seed. And in 24 hours, it was like Grand Central Station. I'd never been "into birds," but I knew enough to recognize a few varieties, so I started a list. And then these little white and black fellas who could walk upside down showed up, and this brown guy, playing king of the castle, and a cardinal-looking thing that was grey instead of red.
Merlin to the rescue!
In the last year, I've ID'd around twenty different species in my yard with the app. (Birds in above paragraph: white-breasted nuthatch, Carolina wren, juvenile cardinal).
My partner knew I'd gone a little too far when, from the kitchen, I saw my first squirrel on the feeder and ran outside brandishing a wooden spoon and shouting nonsense until it reluctantly retreated.
posted by robstercraw at 1:02 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
We bought our first home a year ago, and I immediately filled the bird feeder outside the breakfast room window with sunflower seed. And in 24 hours, it was like Grand Central Station. I'd never been "into birds," but I knew enough to recognize a few varieties, so I started a list. And then these little white and black fellas who could walk upside down showed up, and this brown guy, playing king of the castle, and a cardinal-looking thing that was grey instead of red.
Merlin to the rescue!
In the last year, I've ID'd around twenty different species in my yard with the app. (Birds in above paragraph: white-breasted nuthatch, Carolina wren, juvenile cardinal).
My partner knew I'd gone a little too far when, from the kitchen, I saw my first squirrel on the feeder and ran outside brandishing a wooden spoon and shouting nonsense until it reluctantly retreated.
posted by robstercraw at 1:02 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wonder if it would break Merlin.
At first I was going to say "Hah, yes!" because the best guess was Pileated Woodpecker. Then I clicked "More" and match #2 was European Starling (Juvenile), and I was going to say "Hah, Merlin, you got played!"
But dear reader, there were more near matches. #3 was ... Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Adult).
*mic drop*
posted by filthy light thief at 1:03 PM on June 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
At first I was going to say "Hah, yes!" because the best guess was Pileated Woodpecker. Then I clicked "More" and match #2 was European Starling (Juvenile), and I was going to say "Hah, Merlin, you got played!"
But dear reader, there were more near matches. #3 was ... Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Adult).
*mic drop*
posted by filthy light thief at 1:03 PM on June 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
OHHH!
And there are examples of different calls. You can really rile up a flock of titmice and wrens if you crank your phone's volume all the way up.
posted by robstercraw at 1:04 PM on June 11, 2015
And there are examples of different calls. You can really rile up a flock of titmice and wrens if you crank your phone's volume all the way up.
posted by robstercraw at 1:04 PM on June 11, 2015
I wonder if it would break Merlin.
Nope. Got it on the first try.
posted by specialagentwebb at 1:05 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Nope. Got it on the first try.
posted by specialagentwebb at 1:05 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Huh, I wonder if Merlin learned from my entry of the photo, or you were better at tagging the parts of the bird than I was, because Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was #3 when tried sidereal's photo.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:17 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 1:17 PM on June 11, 2015
We have this and my 10 year old used it to immediately figure out that we had a brown thrasher in the yard. One slight bummer: It doesn't seem to handle being run on an iPad that well (window position/rotation stuff). Maybe I can double-check tonight and contact them.
But the UI is a fantastic example of "dead simple, does what it says on the tin".
posted by freecellwizard at 1:23 PM on June 11, 2015
But the UI is a fantastic example of "dead simple, does what it says on the tin".
posted by freecellwizard at 1:23 PM on June 11, 2015
But does this mean that my co-workers will stop emailing me fuzzy photos of hawks and asking me to ID them?
posted by gingerbeer at 2:01 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by gingerbeer at 2:01 PM on June 11, 2015
You should run some through Merlin and see what happens, unless you prefer to retain your title of Office Bird Guru.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:03 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 2:03 PM on June 11, 2015
I'm having a pretty good success rate with the Photo ID desktop app—better than the iPhone app (which I may not keep for long anyway due to its great big size).
I'd love to have something like this that also identified birds by their calls.
I found that when I successfully identified a lesser yellowlegs and clicked through for more info, there was a recording of its call! Awesome.
posted by obloquy at 2:06 PM on June 11, 2015
I'd love to have something like this that also identified birds by their calls.
I found that when I successfully identified a lesser yellowlegs and clicked through for more info, there was a recording of its call! Awesome.
posted by obloquy at 2:06 PM on June 11, 2015
Sometimes living in the future isn't so bad. This is one of those times. Thanks, flt.
posted by ob1quixote at 2:08 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by ob1quixote at 2:08 PM on June 11, 2015
> It guesed this one right.
Juvenile RTHA. And I'm not even a merlin!
But it's interesting, because I uploaded a different shot of yours from the same series, and its first choice was...winter wren!
posted by rtha at 2:10 PM on June 11, 2015
Juvenile RTHA. And I'm not even a merlin!
But it's interesting, because I uploaded a different shot of yours from the same series, and its first choice was...winter wren!
posted by rtha at 2:10 PM on June 11, 2015
> You should run some through Merlin and see what happens, unless you prefer to retain your title of Office Bird Guru.
I do actually like that title, yes. I was at a staff retreat a while back, and in the "say something about yourself"/dreaded icebreaker portion of the meeting, I said I was the person people emailed with bird ID questions, and several people afterwards said that they each thought that they were the only person who did that to me.
Nope, nope, y'all do that.
However, I may still run them through Merlin. Just don't tell anyone, ok?
posted by gingerbeer at 2:11 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
I do actually like that title, yes. I was at a staff retreat a while back, and in the "say something about yourself"/dreaded icebreaker portion of the meeting, I said I was the person people emailed with bird ID questions, and several people afterwards said that they each thought that they were the only person who did that to me.
Nope, nope, y'all do that.
However, I may still run them through Merlin. Just don't tell anyone, ok?
posted by gingerbeer at 2:11 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'd love to have something like this that also identified birds by their calls.
That was bio-girl's first response, and I think that's possible. It wouldn't surprise me if that's a recurring topic in the Merlin dev meetings (the ones where they let the marketers in).
There are apps that can identify a song on the radio if you hold your phone up to it and let it listen. Also something something I read about something listening to your background (TV?) and something something surprising you with its insight that really, really offended privacy proponents. I forget what it was, but audio processing is pretty amazing these days,
Anyways, I wouldn't presume to call phone mic birdsong identification trivial in the make-a real-app sense; that would be a pretty robust app. But I don't think it would be 1944 split-the-atom nontrivial, like facial expression processing. Just say "cloud" and "big data" and someone in San Francisco will give you $500M.
I wonder what such an app would do with my old, lifelong friend the Mockingbird. Some of my earliest memories are of lying on the grass listening to a Mockingbird sing for what seemed like hours, and me trying as hard as I could to catch one - ONE - single repetition of a phrase.
No dice. I've been listening to Mockingbirds for 50 years (stopped and listened to one just this morning, no lie!) trying to catch some kind of pattern - anything - and I got nothing. What an extraordinarily unique bird. They sound nice, they don't damage anything, they eat pests, and mama will fucking kill you if you get near her nest. Respect.
posted by sidereal at 2:13 PM on June 11, 2015
That was bio-girl's first response, and I think that's possible. It wouldn't surprise me if that's a recurring topic in the Merlin dev meetings (the ones where they let the marketers in).
There are apps that can identify a song on the radio if you hold your phone up to it and let it listen. Also something something I read about something listening to your background (TV?) and something something surprising you with its insight that really, really offended privacy proponents. I forget what it was, but audio processing is pretty amazing these days,
Anyways, I wouldn't presume to call phone mic birdsong identification trivial in the make-a real-app sense; that would be a pretty robust app. But I don't think it would be 1944 split-the-atom nontrivial, like facial expression processing. Just say "cloud" and "big data" and someone in San Francisco will give you $500M.
I wonder what such an app would do with my old, lifelong friend the Mockingbird. Some of my earliest memories are of lying on the grass listening to a Mockingbird sing for what seemed like hours, and me trying as hard as I could to catch one - ONE - single repetition of a phrase.
No dice. I've been listening to Mockingbirds for 50 years (stopped and listened to one just this morning, no lie!) trying to catch some kind of pattern - anything - and I got nothing. What an extraordinarily unique bird. They sound nice, they don't damage anything, they eat pests, and mama will fucking kill you if you get near her nest. Respect.
posted by sidereal at 2:13 PM on June 11, 2015
I can finally confirm that the birds I so admire in NYC are European starlings.
Is there anything similar for trees?
posted by Partario at 2:58 PM on June 11, 2015
Is there anything similar for trees?
posted by Partario at 2:58 PM on June 11, 2015
I'd love to have something like this that also identified birds by their calls.
Charles Louis Hett wrote a whole dictionary of bird calls back in the 1890s, covering every written variation that he could find. The story goes that he was sat in his house and heard a bird call he could define in terms of sound but had no way to look it up. Sadly no copies seem to be available online, never mind a handy app.
posted by Thing at 3:12 PM on June 11, 2015
Charles Louis Hett wrote a whole dictionary of bird calls back in the 1890s, covering every written variation that he could find. The story goes that he was sat in his house and heard a bird call he could define in terms of sound but had no way to look it up. Sadly no copies seem to be available online, never mind a handy app.
posted by Thing at 3:12 PM on June 11, 2015
This couldn't be more timely - yesterday evening my husband asked me (in a worried tone) what on earth the dead creature very high in a tree overhanging the garage could be... he told me to direct my gaze to what looked like a large weird orange (termite?) nest, then follow along to the next branch where there was a motionless bulgy soft gray lump. I guessed the lump was a dead squirrel - we assumed it had suffered a heart attack, (or terminal heat shock- it has suddenly got stifling here on Long Island), and that its body had got stuck.
We stood for about 10 minutes squinting up at the gray lump in squeamish dismay (thinking about decomposition), then my husband (who has a PhD) fitted some plastic pipes together to make a very long wiggly wand (about 20ft long?) to see if we could knock the corpse free. But the wand was still about ten feet short of the branch.
Then the weird orange "termite nest" shifted & lofted, and the dead squirrel ruffled itself and suddenly we saw little tufty bird ears against the dusk sky. They were a completely glorious pair of owls! (Wiki suggests Eastern Screech-Owl adults, respectively a gray and a red morph...).
I am still amazed at how I could go from honest disgust to absolute rapture looking at the same thing.
(I realize the app doesn't help if you don't know whether you ARE actually looking at a bird!)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 3:28 PM on June 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
We stood for about 10 minutes squinting up at the gray lump in squeamish dismay (thinking about decomposition), then my husband (who has a PhD) fitted some plastic pipes together to make a very long wiggly wand (about 20ft long?) to see if we could knock the corpse free. But the wand was still about ten feet short of the branch.
Then the weird orange "termite nest" shifted & lofted, and the dead squirrel ruffled itself and suddenly we saw little tufty bird ears against the dusk sky. They were a completely glorious pair of owls! (Wiki suggests Eastern Screech-Owl adults, respectively a gray and a red morph...).
I am still amazed at how I could go from honest disgust to absolute rapture looking at the same thing.
(I realize the app doesn't help if you don't know whether you ARE actually looking at a bird!)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 3:28 PM on June 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
And there are examples of different calls. You can really rile up a flock of titmice and wrens if you crank your phone's volume all the way up.
It's better if you don't play birdsongs at the birds overmuch. You're basically telling them there's another one of their species in the vicinity, which might (for example) convince them not to nest there. A little bit here and there is fine, of course.
posted by uosuaq at 3:30 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's better if you don't play birdsongs at the birds overmuch. You're basically telling them there's another one of their species in the vicinity, which might (for example) convince them not to nest there. A little bit here and there is fine, of course.
posted by uosuaq at 3:30 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm going to be the crank who deleted it as soon as I saw it demanded an email address. Wish I'd read the FAQ.
posted by lagomorphius at 4:04 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by lagomorphius at 4:04 PM on June 11, 2015
Coincidentally I just downloaded this app and the other night was enjoying a pleasant evening in the backyard. I spotted a male Northern Cardinal, found its call and played it on my iPad.
Over the course of ten minutes I had that little guy hopping around within four feet of me trying to figure out how I fit another male Cardinal into my iPad and why.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:51 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Over the course of ten minutes I had that little guy hopping around within four feet of me trying to figure out how I fit another male Cardinal into my iPad and why.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:51 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
So cool! Thanks, filthy light thief! I've heard of things like this before, but they usually only cover US birds. Gonna try it tonight!
posted by Kevin Street at 4:57 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by Kevin Street at 4:57 PM on June 11, 2015
I use the iPhone app constantly! It's the best, and does a really good job of identifying birds when my bird-obsessed friend isn't around. I wish it would allow me to create a list of the birds I see, though, just to keep track. Oh well. I will definitely have to try out the identify-by-picture feature!
posted by gemmy at 8:34 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by gemmy at 8:34 PM on June 11, 2015
This is absolutely fantastic. I honestly didn't realize photo technology was this good.
I wonder if something like this would be possible for plants and wildflowers. I have a couple pocket guides for the trail, but they can never cover everything out there and I often wind up pretty stumped.
posted by teponaztli at 9:52 PM on June 11, 2015
I wonder if something like this would be possible for plants and wildflowers. I have a couple pocket guides for the trail, but they can never cover everything out there and I often wind up pretty stumped.
posted by teponaztli at 9:52 PM on June 11, 2015
When I saw this thread show up in my Twitter feed I assumed Jessamyn posted it so she didn't have to constantly correct my misidentifications on Instagram.
This app should make a nice companion to my Peterson app.
I haven't downloaded it yet but the FPP wording has me curious: It's a smartphone app but photo uploads have to be done from "desktop"?
posted by terrapin at 6:02 AM on June 12, 2015
This app should make a nice companion to my Peterson app.
I haven't downloaded it yet but the FPP wording has me curious: It's a smartphone app but photo uploads have to be done from "desktop"?
posted by terrapin at 6:02 AM on June 12, 2015
I downloaded Merlin and immediately told my professional ornithologist partner I didn't need him anymore. Guess I spoke too soon, cause according to the app all birds in Montreal are European Starlings, whether I'm describing a robin, a warbler or a crow!
I guess he'll have to put up with my annoying empid ID queries for a while longer.
posted by Freyja at 9:02 AM on June 12, 2015
I guess he'll have to put up with my annoying empid ID queries for a while longer.
posted by Freyja at 9:02 AM on June 12, 2015
Kinnakeet, I'm glad you had a good experience with luring a cardinal over to you with recorded calls. I tried the same thing on a house finch in the tree I was sitting under last summer, and it shat on my leg.
posted by telophase at 12:26 PM on June 12, 2015
posted by telophase at 12:26 PM on June 12, 2015
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Also, it looks like they're continuing to update the database on Merlin, as this promo video from the "Merlin" link says the iPhone app will help identify 285 different birds, and now they're up to 400.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:57 AM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]