An update to the popular Merlin Bird ID app will turn millions of birdwatchers like me into citizen scientists — doing your bit for bird conservation efforts just got easier | Tech Radar
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An update to the popular Merlin Bird ID app will turn millions of birdwatchers like me into citizen scientists — doing your bit for bird conservation efforts just got easier
Integration with the leading e Bird biodiversity database could be a huge boost for monitoring bird populations
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Merlin Bird ID is a go-to app for bird identification, with more than 40 million downloads
It can identify over 2,000 species of birds by sound recognition
A future update will share sound recordings with e Bird, a huge biodiversity database
If you're into birdwatching, you'll need no introduction to the popular Merlin Bird ID app, by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. With over 40 million downloads worldwide, and over two million monthly users in the UK alone, Merlin is the go-to app for bird identification for many.
I'm in my forties, and birding has become one of my recent new hobbies, after years of photographing birds while testing cameras and lenses. And while I'm learning, I simply can't identify all the birds I see or hear, especially in my local nature reserve, which is a migration route for varied and sometimes rare birdlife throughout the year, and a popular birding spot.
The app helps me to identify the birds I'm unfamiliar with by their call / song, using machine learning sound recognition, and gives me lightning-fast and almost always reliable results, with an image for each identified bird. It's super helpful.
I can also feed the app one of my photos for identification, such as those taken during a recent outing with the Sony 400-800mm lens, with the results based on location data and other information from a database of more than 2,000 bird species.
So I was delighted to hear that the app — which is free for i OS and Android, with downloadable offline bird packs by location including US, Canada and Europe — is getting an update which will help users like me give something back: integration with Cornell's own e Bird database, as reported by the Guardian.
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Me during a recent visit to my local birding site, which hosts a wide variety of birdlife throughout the year (Image credit: Tim Coleman)
e Bird is a huge citizen-science biodiversity database, with over two billion recordings logged worldwide since its 2002 launch. And it's set for an influx of new data — the Merlin Bird ID app update will in future allow bird identifications to automatically flow directly into the e Bird database.
Jessie Barry, of the Merlin project, told the Guardian, "Upcoming feature developments will make an even better link to the e Bird systems so that we can use the data from what users ‘hear’ with Merlin to monitor bird populations."
Bird conservation is a hot topic, what with bird numbers declining. The UK, for example, has 70 million fewer birds than it did 50 years ago. So here's the good part: these records could provide vital information to conversation efforts for at-risk birdlife around the world.
Barry added: “This data helps create tools that can be used to further conservation, inspire support and inform ecological management strategies.”
Notwithstanding the cautionary note of the app's outright accuracy, with concern from some about it occasionally misidentifying birds, the Merlin Bird ID app update could be a huge boost for bird conservation efforts.
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Being directly connected to the go-to bird identification app, e Bird stands to receive more data from millions of users, who don't need to make any special effort to take part; they just need to carry on using the app as before to record and identify birdsong.
I love the idea that I will be one of a new wave of citizen scientists across the world, with the recordings I make playing a small part in monitoring bird populations. And the surge in recording data will likely further improve the app's performance.
Right, I'm off out with my phone, I hear the birds calling...
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Tim joined the Tech Radar team as Cameras Editor in 2023 and has enjoyed more than 15 years as a tech journalist specializing in camera gear. He's previously worked at Amateur Photographer, for a photo accessory manufacturer and as a freelance photographer and video producer, with clients including Studio 44 and Canon. He also started a media team in Nairobi, Kenya, where he lived for a few years volunteering for a faith-based organisation. Tim is married, father of three children, and loves being active, primarily running since hanging up his football boots.
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