Rick
I have found the Merlin app to be a very useful tool in helping me pick out
bird sounds that I might not otherwise hear. I have a good degree of high
frequency hearing loss and struggle to hear many warbler species. That
being said I don’t trust it to any great degree and don’t use it to
substantiate birds I don’t personally hear or see. I have witnessed and
continue to see many false identifications. For example I have seen it
identify red-eyed vireo as Philadelphia, cackling goose as Harlequin duck,
random false identifications of Peregrine falcon as well as frog calls
identified as Limpkin. Have fun with it, learn from it but I wouldn’t
recommend using it as the gospel.
On Tue, May 9, 2023 at 09:04 Rick S. <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi birders,
Yesterday I down loaded the Merlin app and used the sound ID. I was
amazed how well it seemed to work. Is this app accurate and does KOS use
it to ID birds? This morning I walked the perimeter of my yard. It took 10
minutes. I did it with the app running and according to the app I recording
the following birds. Wood Thrush, red eyed vireo, red bellied woodpecker
yellow-throated warbler, KY warbler, ovenbird, hairy woodpecker, northern
cardinal, eastern wood pewee, Am. Robin, indigo bunting, downy woodpecker,
scarlet warbler, tufted titmouse, white eyed vireo, Philadelphia vireo,
yellow breasted chat and eastern towhee. The Philadelphia vireo had a red
dot by its name. I had a hermit thrush yesterday evening that had a red dot
also. Not sure what the red dot means yet. Still learning.
I am very interested in your comments. This a learning session for
me with using this app.
Thanks, have a great birding day,
Rick Seelhorst
Siloam, KY
