Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab App Reviews

Hearing a bird and are clueless as to what it is? Merlin will listen and tell you. I am able to identify so many birds by song now. Thank you 🩷

I love learning what kind of birds I am hearing

Better than all the rest

I love Merlin and use it all the time, but since the update, the sound ID has issues picking up birds. The bird could be right nearby and still reads “listening.” It is quite slow. Not sure what has changed. Other than that, I love it.

I live by a large lake for a couple of years and have year round and many migrating birds. I heard lots of song but many times could not quite make them out visually . Dont carry binoculars in a bathing suit. Associating sounds to birds has made a huge difference in my knowledge of whats around me. Wonderful, actually useful, app. Cheers

This app has revolutionized birding for both me and my parents. The sound ID is amazing, as is the ability to see expected species in your region. My parents appreciate that it works well on their older phones. Great work!

We are enjoying this app so much and are recommending it to all of our friends - even if they aren’t birders! We are learning to identify bids and their songs daily. It is incredible be able to turn Merlin on and immediately know what birds are about! We were recently in Logan, Utah, and we identified a fox Sparrow singing his heart out on an open branch. It was thrilling! We live in Southern Arizona where there are many bird varieties and Merlin is just the tool to guide our bird identific

Love the app. Gives me a clear list of the local birds in my yard. And I have been able to learn a wide range of birds of the north Georgia mountains

Often, I cannot see the bird that is chirping. They are in a thick tree, or thick hedge, or are on the other side of the house. The Merlin App has taught me much about the ordinary birds singing in my garden. I never knew that it was a tiny Wren that was making so much noise! I have learned a lot from this app, and it is fun.

Love this app! My boyfriend and I have a competition to see who can see and identify the most birds! ♥️. I tell everyone I see!

This is one of my favorite apps to have on while I’m exploring parks! So fun to add to my life list! Love the sound identifier and step by step!

I love this ap. Using sound to identify birds makes identification so easy. Location eliminates birds that don’t belong. Upload a photo and poof - you have an ID. Great birding ap and a wonderful addition to the other birding aps on my phone.

For everyone from a casual backyard birdwatcher to an avid field enthusiast this is a great app. It helps you to identify our feathered friends using either pictures or sounds. It also helps you to create a life list of birds you have seen or heard using the app.

I never write reviews, but I’m having issues with this app. I love this app and it’s super accurate. I use it all the time especially when I am out birding. However, when I want to choose and new location or date, the app boots me out. It happens so frequently! Also, it happens occasionally, but when I hear a bird I have never heard and want to use their sound ID, it doesn’t work. They need some updates.

I started using Merlin a year ago and it has been really helpful at finding what species the birds are.

4 for 4 no id so I’ll delete this app and try another. I did like the song aspect however I cannot seem to get good enough sound to use that as an id.

My go to bird app.

It’s very easy and interesting to identify a species!

This app was recommended to me while watching a video about getting started in birdwatching. This app is amazing. Download the pack for your local area and go out into the backyard. You will be amazed how many birds you can track. I really appreciate that all of this data is packaged in a free app. Yes, that’s a free app for you to use. I also like being part of community science, download this app and give it a shot. There’s nothing to lose other than gaining a great new hobby to get you outdoo

My wife and I have enjoyed using this bird id for a couple years. We sit at our kitchen table on weekends or when we have a day off together watching the birds coming. We get so excited when we see a new bird that we haven’t identified yet! It’s very relaxing for us.

As a generic nature lover I first downloaded this app out of curiosity. Now I use it almost every day and it has deepened my connection to the living world around me. I’m even starting to be able to identify neighbourhood birds by their calls and I use the app to help me confirm. It makes me feel smart :) So fun, so educational. Get it now!! P.S. - I live in Greece - this app is useful worldwide!!

I love this app!! It’s great to record the bird calls and watch Merlin ID them for me. However, I do wish that those audio recordings could be seen on iNaturalist’s map feature. So that if I record a red shouldered hawk, then the iNat users would know they are present in that area. Then the Maryland Biodiversity Program would have better data. I wish there was a share feature between Merlin and iNat. Does anyone know if there’s a way to do that?? Anyway, thank you Merlin for a wonderful app!!

We love to sit next to the creek and watch and listen. With Merlin we now hear more and have a better understanding of how varied the birds are even in winter.

Love this app, definitely a MUST for anyone who birdwatching!!

So helpful for identifying birds. I especially like the sound ID feature. Well done!

I love this app. I’m not even a legit birder, but it might be making me into one. It’s so fun to travel with and learn about which birds live in a new place. I’m always taking out my phone to do audio identification.

It get’s better and better in accuracy and variety of birds and works everywhere. It collections for Latin America and the Caribbean are great

Easily the best app on my phone.

This app has helped me tremendously in distinguishing different bird calls. I love that the app allows to play back you audio and compare it to the app’s audio files. My family has a group chat where we share our weekly birds and lifers!

This is one of my most used apps. I’ve always been more of a bird lover than a bird namer The pic I’d is great, the id function is awesome & this year I’ve had the most fun with the sound recorder. , I’ll turn it on & set it outside to see who is active . Then we are also using it on bike trails. Love it & thanks!

I mostly use the app to tell me what birds are singing around me. It picks up some that are beyond the range of my hearing, and tells me about other birds I didn’t know existed, like the Hermit Thrush, which I can now readily identify. It is a great app!

It's hard to criticize an app like Merlin ID. It's incredibly powerful. My favorite and most used feature is the sound ID function. In the older version I always found it frustrating that in order to explore a bird I would have to get out of the sound ID to go to explore bird and then back to the sound ID. The new version allows you to seamlessly jump between the two without the sound ID even stopping. Unless you play a call, that is. I'm so excited about that! I also like that there is now a l

The speed and accuracy of this app is unmatched. SO FUN to finally know what birds are making which noises. The identified birds light up when they make their respective noises. Used it first in Costa Rica and now in Michigan.

this is nothing short of amazing. im identifying birds i never knew were in my yard before. wonderful, wonderful app.

Now learning to recognize more calls, & having fun doing it! AND— just realized it will call and ATTRACT birds too! Had a really excited male bluebird that I ID’d from a distance fly to my location— and hang out singing and looking puzzled while I played Merlin’s bluebird songs to him!!! Eager to experiment singing TO other species! Cornell you can promote my idea for a small fee.

Amazing to know who’s with you in the woods. I am using up all my battery life but well worth it.

This app has changed my morning walks forever!