To some, birdwatchers are a joke. And it’s so unfair because they are the nicest people. Sure, birders wear big, goofy binoculars dangling from their necks and constantly scribble down urgent notes about plumage and habitat and can tell the difference from a downy woodpecker and a hairy woodpecker. They can distinguish between 42 separate local bird songs and can imitate them perfectly. Birders are geeks who wear cargo pants to prom and snort when they laugh. Some might say that birding isn’t a hobby, it’s a nervous affliction.
I am embarrassed to admit that until lately I have taken birds for granted. I regarded birds like stars–they hover randomly overhead, mostly invisible and irrelevant. That is, until a friend introduced me to the Cornell University free phone app, Merlin. Created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in 2009, Merlin was designed to help ordinary people of every experience level identify birds by their song or photo. The artificial intelligence-driven app draws on more than 750 million observations to tell you what birds you are hearing and seeing.
When you bring up the app on your phone, just press the bar that reads, “Sound ID.” Merlin immediately begins listening for and recording bird songs in your vicinity, while contributing to Cornell’s growing database. Not only is it remarkably good at picking out individual birds, but Merlin can identify multiple birds simultaneously. Each time, it hears a bird, a photo of that species is highlighted so you know what bird you are hearing and it keeps a running list of all the birds it hears during that session and records it for later reference. This allows you to play back your recording over and over and learn what each bird looks like and sounds like.
The first time I used Merlin, it identified a house sparrow, a chipping sparrow, a Tennessee warbler, a brown-headed cowbird, a catbird, a chimney swift, a common grackle and a rose-breasted grosbeak. All in my yard! I tried it later and Merlin heard the sweet song of the house finch, the sarcastic taunts of a gray catbird and the haunting calls of American crows. And, to my astonishment, it heard an osprey! How cool is that?
Before I realized it, I was learning a lot of new stuff about birds. I began to see birds in the trees I never noticed before. Even in town, there are entire bird communities with their own languages and economies. How could I have not seen all this before?
I swear, Merlin could turn the trendiest hipster into a birding nerd. If you are interested in trying out Merlin, just go to your smartphone play store and type in “Merlin Bird ID.” It works for Android or IOS phones. It’s free. And while you are at it, get one of those tiny spiral notebooks for writing down bird sightings. It will fit nicely into the pocket of your new cargo pants.
I realize I am spending way too much time identifying birds on Merlin. I have found so many different and unusual birds. But I can honestly say, I have no, um, egrets.