Merlin Bird ID Review

 Merlin Bird ID Review

In this post I hope to express my opinion of the Merlin Bird ID app in the form of a user review.

Identification

The primary purpose of this app seems to be to identify birds, for which it does an excellent job. It gives the user to option to take a photo, record sound, or use a step by step key. Personally, I usually opt for sound and then try to visually identify the bird(s) that appear from my recording. While it is not always 100% accurate, it can be useful in giving suggestions for what may be nearby. This has specifically been very useful to me in cases where I do not recognize the bird I am hearing/seeing, or it can shed light on the birds that may be in the area. 

Explore

The "Explore" tab in the app gives a nice guide to all of the birds that may be in the area selected. This extremely useful, as it allows the user to have a quick reference guide to any bird that might be in the area of interest. Additionally, the page allows you to learn about each bird, view photos of the birds, and even hear sampled audio from the species. This page has been especially useful to me when I am in a new area and want to get a quick reference of species that may be new to me in the area.

Life List

Many birders keep a mental note or a physical copy of birds they have already seen and birds that they are on the lookout for. The "Life List" tab on Merlin does an excellent job at organizing this for you. By giving the date and location of birds that were viewed by the user, it is very easy to keep track of the birds you have seen before. When I was getting into bird watching, this tab made bird watching much more entertaining as it felt like collecting baseball cards or something adjacent.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, this app is very useful, super user-friendly, and surprisingly accurate. I have a personal connection to this app, as it helped me to learn bird calls of urban birds when I was just getting into birdwatching. The "Explore" page is my personal favorite feature, and it makes finding information about local birds super easy. I would recommend this app to anyone interested in birds from the expert to the beginner birdwatcher. Its informative capacity and practicality make this one of the best tools for birdwatching to date (although more experienced birdwatchers may argue otherwise).

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