Hi Chris,
I've had some pretty funny results from Merlin, mostly when I forget to turn on
my location services. One day I was getting Northern Cardinals in my backyard.
The other day I got a Snow Goose ID on Kellogg Creek in Milwaukie, that's
possible. I think it was hearing American Wigeon, Wood Ducks or a combination
of the two. I hear better than my iThingy does.
I think I would still prefer to learn from others in class or on outing with
like-minded folks. Guess I will have to get busy and take some more classes.
I learned a lot from the Birding By Ear and Bird Count classes the Portland
Audubon Society give. Those were combination classroom and field trip...lots
of fun. Did a couple CBCs. Those are great.
What I really liked about the results I got using Merlin while recording
starlings doing imitations of other birds is it did not misidentify the sounds.
Which, in season for Western Wood-pewees, I might have mistaken the starling
calls for a Western Wood-pewee if I relied solely on my hearing ability. I
also need to figure out if I am hearing Killdeer or Starlings from my backyard
now that I have seen so many Killdeer at the NE 158th Marsh at NE Marine Drive
which very close to my home as the crow flies.
By the way, the parking near the Marsh at NE 158th and NE Marine Drive in
Portland is a homeless camp, which I think may extend east along the trail to
the slough trail parking lot (which is closed to vehicles). My point is, it
may be best to bird in pairs down there and keep your car in sight. I drive by
to check the situation out from time to time and it is not great.
Back to Merlin, my thinking is that I should get a good recording of this
starling murmur doing their imitations and submit it eBird so the sounds are on
file and will come up with European Starling. I will pick a quiet day when
there are not so many student pilots in and out of the Troutdale Airport and
fewer tractor trailer rigs idling at FedEx and Amazon.
I think Bewick's Wren's are difficult to record because they have a tendency to
skulk. I like to see what I am recording. I am just starting to experiment
with getting good recordings out of my iPhone. The Bewick's Wren would be a
good species to record to see just how many sounds you can catch them making.
Cheers,
Sandy Leaptrott
NE Portland
Sent from my iPad
On Nov 25, 2021, at 9:04 AM, Christine Maack <cmaackster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm having similar experiences with the Merlin App, Sandy. There are certain
birds it misses a lot (Bewick's wren, for example) and some it constantly
tells me about that I have no way of verifying with my bad hearing: brown
creeper, golden-crowned kinglet. What's puzzling is that it won't report
common species that I'm actually hearing but will throw in a red-dotted
possibility like tundra swan.
Chris
On Wed, Nov 24, 2021 at 10:01 PM Sandy Leaptrott <sandyleapt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi All,
I have been playing with the sound ID portion of the Merlin App. I am
enjoying it. Several days ago I located one of my favorite subjects by ear,
Starlings doing imitations of Western Wood-pewees, Red-winged Blackbirds and
a Bald Eagle. So I turned on the app and recorded the birds. The app came
back with no matches for the sounds the starlings were making. So, although
to my ear I am hearing recognizable, credible bird songs the app seems to be
picking them up as unrecognizable giving me no possible matches, which is
good. When I get a better recording I will submit it to eBird. Too much
industrial background noise for a good recording on this day.
Now if I could have just seen the Hairy Woodpecker the app tells me was
hanging out with a little flock of Black-capped chickadees I was watching.
Sandy Leaptrott
NE Portland
Sent from my iPad
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