Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

Name: Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab
Rating: 4.85823 (72841 reviews)

Reference

View in App Store

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

Reference

4.9

72.8K ratings

Age Rating

Seller

Cornell University

View in App Store

Price Intelligence:

Average for the Reference category The most popular in-app price for the app

Grow your in-app revenue

while we take care of your subscription management.
Mobile SDK by Qonversion.

Learn more

Price Intelligence based on:

213,534

apps aggregated

8,172,290

in-app prices defined

main categories

In-App Purchase Price (Subscription or Non-Recurring)

vs. average for the Reference category, $, by region

Build, analyze, and grow in-app subscriptions

with the most powerful mobile SDK for subscriptions

Explore

User Reviews for Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

Best resource for the novice birder.

I’ve had this app for a few years now and just wanted to test it out. It’s probably not very helpful that I’m just now getting around to it. I was initially pretty disappointed at first because the number of species specific to Alaska was fairly limited. It took a little time, but they rolled out regional specific bird packs. It just blew up from there and became my go-to app for identifying birds. The photo ID feature is pretty great, but limited only by the quality of my phone camera. It’s usually pretty accurate though. I’ve just gotten way more interested in birds I really didn’t pay attention to before! The app is great and if you enjoy birds of all sizes in your area, chances are this app will be instrumental in identifying them. I think I use it more than any other app I have. Oh yeah, I also really love the bird sounds feature. This is also very useful when you can’t necessarily see the bird, but you might have a close idea of what it could be. Do check it out, this is well put together app overall. I wonder if they’ll have a feature where you could identify simply by recording a song or a call? I’m excited for any new developments in the future!

Afree76, Jul 10, 2018

Great app for the birder: novice or experienced

This app is a fantastic tool for the birder in the field. Great aid to confirm an ID or to help identify a bird you’ve never seen before. The ID feature asks a few simple questions about size, color(s), behavior, and habitat, and presents a list of likely matches for your location. You can download bird packs for the USA, as well as other places around the world. Once you’ve downloaded the packs, it works well even without cell or internet access. Each species has pictures of male and female individuals, as well as immature and non-breeding plumages. Also included are multiple recordings of songs and call notes. I rarely carry my printed guidebooks in the field anymore. Merlin on my smartphone is more compact and easier to reference, and provides access to the sound library as a bonus. I use the books for more in depth study when back at home. Strongly recommend using Merlin in conjunction with eBird. You can keep and submit bird lists in eBird, and jump over to Merlin to look at pictures or listen to songs to confirm your ID. Both apps are developed by the Cornell Ornithology Lab and are nicely integrated. Both apps are free, but I encourage you to support them with a small donation if you enjoy using the apps.

Bill in VT, Jul 23, 2021

Amazing App for easy Bird ID

This app is wonderful! I knew next to nothing about birds until a Eastern Goldfinch landed in my bird bath one day spurring interest into exactly what the name of this beautiful bird was. I searched inline but characteristics I described didn’t help me find what I was looking for so I checked in the App Store for a bird identification app finding many games but only a couple of identification apps I downloaded 3 but found this to be the best for me. Since then I have become an avid bird watcher! The app is easy to use even for me. I was disabled by a drunk driver in 05’ & fed up with tv so great to find a hobby I can enjoy outdoors. Even my parents joined in & my daddy after suffering a head injury himself in 2011 took up the hobby along with wood working. Together we would make feeders & houses to help attract more birds. He would build & I would paint different types of houses I researched on the website to help attract birds of all types. Unfortunately We lost him to cancer in February of this year (2018) but the time we spent birding together these past 7 years is something I’ll always hold near & dear to my heart. Thanks so much to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birds in the Hand, & the developers of the Merlin Bird ID for providing us with this wonderful app that has given me some very sweet memories & a wonderful hobby.

Cconner79, Mar 29, 2018

An Indispensable Tool When Birding

This app is absolutely amazing. It helps identify species (even rare occurrences) when trying to figure out exactly WHAT that is you’re seeing. The app even alerts you when there are similar species and helps differentiate between them. I’ve actually discovered that I was looking at two or three different species when I thought I had captured only one in my photo! The interface is polished, allowing you to snap a picture with your phone or import one you’ve taken previously. It’s also super easy to find identification for many species using the Sound ID features simply by aiming your mic at the bird and getting quick details that way. Sound ID also helps you learn songs and calls for birds you can’t even see; simply point your phone in the general direction and voilà - a list of which species are singing right now. Of course you can also ID birds the old fashioned way by following the prompts in the app to sort by size, color, behavior, etc. to get a surprisingly thorough catalog of options. I NEVER travel without first downloading the “bird pack” catalog for the place I’m going. I can’t recommend this app highly enough, and suggest you also donate to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology so they can keep improving this incredible app and providing it to us for free.

Hajster, Mar 01, 2022

Amazing tool, but a few minuscule issues

This app is amazing. I use it every time I go bird watching, and it is far more efficient than most of the manuals I own. However, it is not without its minor faults. The first and most blaring is the fact that Isee many birds with many more than only 3 colors, and when I see birds with only 3 or less colors they might be different colors than I have the options I have to pick from! I understand that there are limitations that make it difficult, but the app would be that closer to perfect if you added more colors and the option to pick more than three colors. The other issue is that on a very slim chance I cant find the bird im looking for! This is for the most part my fault, but I think that sometimes it is because the bird isn’t on the list of birds registered on the app. It could also be because of the pictures of the birds do not include all or most variations of the bird I see, so I cannot confirm my sighting. If the roster of birds was filled up more, and there was more pictures, then all of those problems would be solved! It is such a great app with such great features and it almost never fails me. The only issues it has are so minor, or could be fixed in an update soon, that it makes them nearly irrelevant. Because of all of this the app is virtually perfect, and i recommend all bird watchers newbies and veterans alike to download this app.

Jimmyjummy69, Jul 09, 2018

Birding Bliss

This is my go to bird ID app when I’m not sure what I’ve seen or heard in the field. Love that it’s fast, straight forward and provides just enough info in an organized fashion. The fact that it allows you to report sightings on eBird (sister app) is a bonus. Wish you could report birds you’ve looked up manually with the explore option. It would also be nice if there was the option to automatically start an eBird checklist when reporting. My biggest complaint is that when you occasionally find a somewhat rare or unique species, the list of possible matches does not seem to include them even if the identifying criteria fit. Later if you’re able to ID the species through other means, and you use the explore option two look them up, they are in fact in the database. It makes sense to limit the number of possible matches, but perhaps including the option to access a second tier of less likely matches would be a good solution. I have yet to use the app outside of the US so I can’t vouch for it’s effectiveness in other places. I’ve had mixed results with the photo ID feature. It seems to work well but using a mobile phone camera to get a decent search photo is a highly limiting factor. I’m super excited about the new sound ID feature. I’ve been playing with it for a few days now and find it to be very accurate and helpful. I expect it will only improve as more species are added. If I could give 4.5 stars I would. This is an excellent app!

Joskiluv25, Jun 29, 2021

My favorite birding tool!

I’ve been using Merlin Bird ID for many years now and I love it!! I like downloading different packs depending on whether I’m traveling and I’ve used all the ID methods (default, photo, sound) with majority success. One of my favorite features is the Life List. I’m very forgetful, and I don’t always document every bird I see but this is a nice way of keeping track of whether I’ve seen different kinds of birds at least once before. All that said, I wish birds could be added manually to the Life List. I saw my first bald eagle the other day and no matter how many times I played with the default Bird ID, bald eagle would not come up in search results despite me having the correct packs downloaded and being able to find the info card using Explore. I also wonder if we might ever get more than just a quick description of birds when Exploring, such as what colors or sizes are assigned to each? I feel like that could be very helpful in understanding how the default Bird ID works. Additionally, the app is good but not great in terms of UX; it’s not as intuitive as I feel it could be as a designer myself. Still, it has been awesome for quick identifying and even for introducing people to birdwatching!! Can’t wait to see how it might evolve!

Just that Simple., May 14, 2023

Download for Loads of Birding Fun!

I started this app about a week and a half ago, and I’m loving it! I can identify any singing bird, and almost any picture of a bird! It identifies your description of a bird, too! You can also search for birds in your area, and play the calls. I’ve been able to play White Breasted Nuthatch, Cardinal, Robin, House Sparrow, House Finch, and Ruby-Throated Hummingbird sounds, and all with a reaction! The biggest reaction I got from a bird was a hummingbird, that was my first time playing the sounds. After a few times, she flew 2 feet away from my face! She looked really stunned, wondering what was going on. After a few seconds, she flew back to her perch in a tree and answered my call all the times after that. Just two problems. 1: When I was having fun with the app and trying to get a Mourning dove, no matter what I tried it wouldn’t give me it. 2: Sometimes there are sound bugs, which I completely understand. One time there was a sound in my house and it thought it was a Brown-Headed Cowbird. Anyway, I think I just heard a hummingbird’s mating call! Better go see them, Bye! Also, download this app for 100% guaranteed bird identification!

KittyPrincess1207, Jun 20, 2022

Great free app.

This is a fun and easy to use bird ID app. Generally I know the birds in my area but I don’t know all their calls and some birds are similar. Once you’ve recorded and stop, you can click on the green arrows and there are examples of all their calls (though some alarm calls are missing). On a early spring morning when birds are chatty and finding mates, I’ve picked up 17 birds. However, I think two of them were really a Mockingbird imitating a Purple Martin and Kildeer on the shoreline and I hadn’t seen either. So, it’s good to listen to a Mockingbird’s own sounds and if a bird you haven’t seen comes up quickly with the Mockingbird, it may not be Merlin’s fault. It did pick up the sound of my door opening as a Loon but we don’t have any. When signing up, when you choose the pack it’s good to choose your area so there are less mistakes. The photo ID works pretty well so far. When you explore birds in the app, some birds say rare that really aren’t, e.g. Mergansers have become common in the winters here mostly in brackish waters. It’s possible that it might mix up juvenile hawks that all have white breasts with brown drippy markings. You can go to Cornell Lab’s website and learn how to recognize their differences, the length of their tail feathers being one way. It’s helpful and fun and surprisingly picks up bird sounds even when there’s traffic noise.

Kristen266, Apr 27, 2023

Wonderful new sound ID feature!

Thank you, Merlin, for your wonderful new sound ID feature!!! My favorite app just got even better! I tried it out yesterday for the first time and was very impressed. It made a few mistakes, as I would expect with a new app, but it identified most of the birds correctly. It had a little trouble, as I would expect, with low volume unclear calls, such as Red-winged Blackbirds cackling in the background, and sometimes didn’t pick up calls that sounded clear and reasonably loud to me, but it had no trouble with most individual birds at close range, and (mostly) correctly identified multiple species even when they were singing all at once. I love that the ID flashes when the same species is heard again in the same recording, helping you determine who is who. I’m not sure the IDs are accurate enough to automatically add to eBird, though. That may lead to a lot of incorrect IDs on eBird, unless people make an effort to verify them first. At one point the app reported four “unrecorded” species (in my specific location) singing all at once on a single 60 sec recording. I could only verify one of these with a sighting. Then again, who knows what I’ve been missing!

Long-time birder, Jun 26, 2021

Description

What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery.

Merlin Bird ID helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos. Merlin offers four fun ways to identify birds. Answer a few simple questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore birds in a region. Whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird you can find, the answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology. WHY YOU’LL LOVE MERLIN • Expert ID tips, range maps, photos, and sounds help you learn about the birds you spot and build birding skills. • Customized lists of birds to find where you live or travel • Merlin was created by bird experts for everyone. • Merlin is global—look up any bird at any location. • Keep track of your sightings—linked to eBird, a global database of more than 1 billion bird observations! MACHINE LEARNING MAGIC • Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Sound ID and Photo ID uses deep learning to identify birds in photos and sounds. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of millions of photos and sounds collected by birders at eBird.org, archived in the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. • Merlin delivers the most accurate results thanks to experienced birders, who curate and annotate sightings, photos, and sounds, who are the true magic behind Merlin. AMAZING CONTENT • Choose bird packs that contain photos, songs, and calls, and identification help for anywhere in the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, and more. • It’s available in your language. Merlin is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Hebrew, German, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Marathi, Malayalam, Afrikaans, Arabic, Indonesian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s goal is to help you and millions of others to learn about birds. Our nonprofit mission to improve the understanding and protection of birds and nature is made possible by the generosity of Cornell Lab members, supporters, and citizen-science contributors.