Cornell Lab of Ornithology Merlin Bird App

While sitting on my cousin’s patio in Massachusetts last week after dinner, we heard a lot of birds. Her balcony faces a wetlands or conservation area so there are a lot of sounds to be heard and a lot of birds to be seen. Then she pulled out the Cornell ornithology bird app and was able to show us exactly what birds we were hearing. It was simply a matter of pressing the microphone button and recording the song -and the results were immediate. I’ve always liked birds so I found this fascinating. So I downloaded the app and thought we would give it a try when we got home. You can identify the birds by describing what you see, uploading a photo, or by listening to the sound. And obviously there are a whole host of other options available including an encyclopedia of sorts. As we were taking a morning walk in the neighborhood park two days ago and this morning, I pulled out the app and just started recording. Immediately the pictures and names of the birds started to kick in. There was the house finch, gray catbird, blue jay, red shouldered hawk, northern cardinal, robin, and Carolina wren on the first day. This morning there was the cardinal, eastern wood-pewee, Carolina wren, indigo bunting, house wren, tufted titmouse, red winged blackbird, blue jay and northern flicker! I never realized there were so many different birds fluttering around. I never heard of several of them. What will be interesting is to see if they change over time, or if the same ones are located in the same places each day. So I’m glad we were introduced to this app. Now we will have a better idea of what is around us at the tip of our fingers - and learn something new at the same time. 

Smart Bird ID

I like just about all animals and birds. We had a few parakeets when we were growing up in lieu of a dog. One of them was named Ringo and he was very talented. He said his name, flew to my finger when I called, sat on our glasses, and rode on the Barbie car steering wheel. We had bird feeders and birdbaths in the Midwest and on Capitol Hill. So when I learned of an app that helped to identify birds and bird sounds, I thought it might be interesting to use. So I downloaded it. When we walk in the morning sometimes we go though the neighborhood park. There are many birds in the area including red headed woodpeckers. But there are several sounds and types of birds that I don’t recognize. So I thought I would try the app out. When you open the tab to record, you push the button to start the recording. I did. Nothing happened. The red line didn’t move up or down after holding the phone steady for quite some time. I tried it in a few different places in the park where we could clearly hear the singing. Still nothing happened. I tried it another day and it was no different. I was a bit disappointed. I made sure the microphone was “on.” Still nothing. There are other tabs on the app that show birds that are typical to this area. I could easily look that up on line. I suppose you shouldn’t expect much for something that is free. Has anyone out there had the same experience?