Merlin has been very helpful to me since it has come out. However, I often
forget about using it until after a bird I can't ID by ear has quit
singing. I was in Colorado hiking a canyon last month and I hear a bird
singing. Because this was a small canyon, there was lots of echo, so it
was always hard to tell where the sound was coming from. Also, there was a
loud gurgling stream right next to me. I pulled up my Merlin app and
Merlin quickly ID'd the bird. I knew to look in the stream now. There were
my birds! Two American Dippers. They were life birds,so I was
quite excited. I had been scouting the stream quite closely, but there were
parts I couldn't see because of trees. I was thankful Merlin guided me in
the right direction.
I personally only count a bird by sound if I know the call or if I'm with
someone that does. If I have to use Merlin to ID a call I don't know, it's
likely going to be a bird I want to see, so I make sure I find it. About
the only time Merlin has been incorrect is when I was using it and a male
friend spoke. Merlin quickly ID'd my friend as a Wild Turkey AND a
Gadwall. 😂😂😂 Neither one of those birds were around.
Here's to learning more bird songs!
Ron Hirsch
Jefferson County
On Thu, Oct 7, 2021 at 11:59 AM Ronan O'Carra <ronan.o.carra@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
All,
We’ve started to see an uptick in people adding comments into their eBird
checklists with “Merlin Sound ID” and the like. While this is something I’m
glad people are using it would be nice if we could start adding the sound
file to the checklist so that it can be confirmed. It recently gave me a
Solitary Sandpiper for a begging Carolina Wren so it is still learning and
needs more sound files. Anytime you use Merlin to identify a bird it saves
the sound file to your phone. This can be transferred to the checklists
with a short few steps (the direct transfer has not been set-up yet) which
entails sending it or saving it outside of Merlin and then downloading it
to your checklist. I’ve put together a basic document on how to do it with
images and instruction that allows it to be done from the phone. I can send
it to those who wish to have it as I didn’t want to attach it to this
message.
Ronan O’Carra
Lexington.
