Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About this app

What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery.

Merlin Bird ID helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos.

Merlin offers four fun ways to identify birds. Answer a few simple questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore birds in a region.

Whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird you can find, the answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

WHY YOU’LL LOVE MERLIN
• Expert ID tips, range maps, photos, and sounds help you learn about the birds you spot and build birding skills.
• Discover a new bird species each day with your own personalized Bird of the Day
• Get customized lists of birds you can find where you live or travel - anywhere in the world!
• Keep track of your sightings—build your personal list of the birds you find

MACHINE LEARNING MAGIC
• Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Sound ID and Photo ID uses machine learning to identify birds in photos and sounds. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of millions of photos and sounds collected by birders at eBird.org, archived in the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• Merlin delivers the most accurate results thanks to experienced birders, who curate and annotate sightings, photos, and sounds, who are the true magic behind Merlin.

AMAZING CONTENT
• Choose bird packs that contain photos, songs, and calls, and identification help for anywhere in the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, and more.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s mission is to interpret and conserve the Earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds and nature. We are able to offer Merlin for free thanks to the generosity of Cornell Lab members, supporters, and citizen-science contributors.

Ratings and reviews

This app is amazing! I'll be out for a walk and ask it to listen for birds, and it will pick out more birds than I noticed. It shows me really good pictures of them, and then, as each bird vocalizes, it highlights that bird, helping me pick each one out. It starts up fast and identifies fast. Make sure you download your database before going somewhere remote. Set up an account so you can save your birds. Perfect!

Was a very nice app before this "Location" update. It won't even remember location between recordings. I mean....seriously? It's very buggy and won't survive other android notifications if not dismissed immediately. Playing back recordings rarely matches the birds it has ID'd. Can't share list of birds captured, only single birds. If recording is corrupted, can't see just the actual full list of birds. (just the first birds, then "+xx more...) Could be so much more but falls short.

I like the new interface. A lot of improvements. However, I can no longer swipe a bird on my LifeList to see relevant checklists. Thankfully, I figured out how to do this in the eBird app, though not as convenient. Screen rotation would be a helpful feature so I can hold my phone upside down to point the microphone forward. P.S. the Cancel button no longer works reliably. I sometimes have to press it 5 or 6 times to cancel a recording.

What's new

Share Your Birding Finds!
We’ve made sharing your birding discoveries easier and more fun. Here’s what’s new:
Share That Bird!: Send bird sightings straight to friends, social media, or birding groups.
Life Bird Alert: Share new sightings with a tap and celebrate new finds.
Bird of the Day: Show off your daily bird, and brag to your friends when you’ve found yours!
Improvements: Bug fixes and performance tweaks for smoother birding.
Happy birding!