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      Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

      2,767
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology Books & Reference
      PEGI 3 PEGI 3
      Loading device compatibility...
      Item added to wishlist.
      Item removed from wishlist.
      1
        Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail     Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail     Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail     Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail     Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail     Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail     Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail     Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot thumbnail
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot
         Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab- screenshot

      What's that bird? Merlin Bird ID helps you solve the mystery in 5 questions, or with a photo of a bird.

      First, Merlin asks you a few simple questions. Then, almost like magic, it reveals the list of birds that best match your description. Pick your bird, then delve into more photos, sounds, and ID tips about your bird!

      If you have a photo, Merlin Photo ID is here to help. Take a photo, or choose one from your photo gallery, and Merlin will offer a list of birds that best match your photo.

      Merlin is fun and easy to use—whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird that comes to your feeder. The answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

      Features

      • Merlin Photo ID can identify your bird photo. Select your photo, tell Merlin where and when you took it, and you'll see a short list of suggested identifications.
      • Download bird packs containing the species of your region, reducing the app size.
      • Created for beginning and intermediate bird watchers, Merlin identifies the 1,100 most common bird species of the continental United States, Canada, Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.
      • Explore birds by location and date with a list of species seen in the area.
      • Intelligent results. No more scanning through hundreds of possibilities! Merlin shows the birds near you that fit your description.
      • Customized location and date tools generate best answers for your neighborhood and time of year.
      • Powered by eBird to deliver the most accurate results based on millions of sightings from bird watchers across North America.
      • Enjoy more than 7,000 photos of birds, including males, females, and juveniles.
      • Learn ID tips from Cornell Lab of Ornithology experts.
      • Listen to the beautiful bird songs and calls from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
      • It’s all free! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s goal is to help you and millions of others to learn about birds.​

      Merlin Bird ID currently includes Bird Pack downloads for the United States including: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountains, Southwest, Texas and Oklahoma, Alaska, and West Coast. Canada is covered by Eastern Canada and Western Canada packs. Mexico packs include Yucatan Peninsula, and another for Oaxaca and Chiapas. Central America Bird Packs include Guatemala and Belize.

      About Photo ID
      Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Photo ID uses computer vision technology to identify birds in photos. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of hundreds of thousands of photos from birders at eBird.org. When using photo ID, enter the date and location where you took the photo; those clues improve Merlin’s accuracy by helping it focus on the species you most likely encountered there.
      My review
      Review from

      Reviews

      4.1
      2,767 total
      5 1,632
      4 525
      3 209
      2 145
      1 256
      Kaitlin Bernert
      I LOVE using the app to identify birds in my yard. I wish it had a feature that saved birds that I've previously identified so I could go back to look at them.
      Vignesh Sethuraman
      Clunky. Frustrating. Disorienting. Keeps loading for nearby packages. Edit: reinstalled app and added package. Works well. Thanks for providing a great resource top the community.
      Brian Tustison
      It worked well when I downloaded it, but the last few weeks it has been useless. Just for an experiment I searched for black, crow sized, in a tree... no matches.
      Matthew Bone
      It works again! Woohoo.
      Frank Engel
      Excellent work, and another great example of positive benefits of NSF education related projects!
      Jonathan Rose
      Very straightforward and easy to use

      User reviews

      Kaitlin Bernert June 8, 2017
      I LOVE using the app to identify birds in my yard. I wish it had a feature that saved birds that I've previously identified so I could go back to look at them.
      Full Review
      Vignesh Sethuraman June 6, 2017
      Clunky. Frustrating. Disorienting. Keeps loading for nearby packages. Edit: reinstalled app and added package. Works well. Thanks for providing a great resource top the community.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 6, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now
      Brian Tustison June 4, 2017
      It worked well when I downloaded it, but the last few weeks it has been useless. Just for an experiment I searched for black, crow sized, in a tree... no matches.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 6, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now
      Matthew Bone June 1, 2017
      It works again! Woohoo.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 2, 2017
      Thanks for giving Merlin another shot! Happy birding.
      Frank Engel June 7, 2017
      Excellent work, and another great example of positive benefits of NSF education related projects!
      Full Review
      Jonathan Rose June 1, 2017
      Very straightforward and easy to use
      Full Review
      Patricia Winkler June 6, 2017
      Correctly identified birds with a minimum of information.
      Full Review
      Paul Barchilon June 7, 2017
      Awesome for identifying new birds!
      Full Review
      Joseph Neal May 21, 2017
      Update: app stated working and it's great! I have be able to identify so many birds. The only reason it gets 4 stars is you can't create a list of birds you have identified. But the photo tool works like a dream. Has not been able to one bird. Even what should be an easy bird to identify, a mallard duck. Will keep trying because I like the idea. Will update if the apps start working better and give a better rating. I hope it works
      Full Review
      Darrell Shuman May 23, 2017
      Worthless. The birds I am looking at do not appear in results. There were quail in my yard so a search for quail did not return the most common quail there is. Thanks to a Google search for quail I then searched in the app for "Northern Bobwhite" and there it was saying "the only quail native to Eastern North America" and the map shows it is more widespread than any of the examples returned in the quail search. Even then at first there were no results because I had to remove the space at the end of Bobwhite that spellchecker adds. Maybe a good app for ornitholigists who already know everything but useless for novice hobbiest. The quail example is only the latest frustration. Every time I try to use this app I have a similar experience. It rarely returns the bird I am looking at. The Audubon app is no better.
      Full Review
      jaybe williams May 30, 2017
      So, without the help of this app, I identified a mississippi kite in western ky. But I thought maybe it's just because it's fairly rare here. But then I described a bluebird which are plentiful here, and merlin didn't recognize that either. App is worthless.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 1, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      Andie Ernst May 16, 2017
      (If you've been having trouble with the app not giving any results, read below!) This app is amazing!! It's been spot on every time and even gave additional birds in the results that were pretty close to what I searched, just in case I didn't get the best look at the bird and my search input was slightly off! I would love if there was a way to save the birds I've seen to a list of my own, even if it required me to create an account to log in, so I could always refer back to my list. (Which, I just found out, it looks like they're preparing to release a version with this feature in the next few months!) Also, when I first started searching for my bird, no results were popping up and I was quite disappointed with the app and almost uninstalled it... until I realized that I had to install a 'Bird Pack' before any results would actually show up. (Which I believe is what a couple of the 1-star ratings are referring to when they said no results were showing.) Maybe guiding the user to the 'Bird Packs' section before they really delve into the app would be a good idea, that way people don't get frustrated and uninstall the app before they realize how amazing it is. I Love it and can't wait to head out to some parks to discover even more birds! ♡
      Full Review
      Corbin Ashley June 3, 2017
      **Update: I was contacted by the support team a month after and they said the bird packs were likely not loading and asked me to remove it and reload, it worked and I'm back up and running again so I changed my rating from 1 star to 4 stars, only 4 stars because this IS a great app but it really should keep a log of what you ID, when you ID it and where you ID them and you should be able to review this list at anytime, this is the only draw back I can see.** App worked very well in the past, I hadn't used it in awhile and now every time I try to ID a bird it tells me there isn't a likely bird for my description, no matter what info I give. I even described a crow and it still came up with nothing! I'm super disappointed that it doesn't work anymore...
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 8, 2017
      Thanks Corbin! We agree that Merlin should keep a list of your past identifications, and we are working on this feature. Keep the feedback coming!
      Lexie Lemcke May 16, 2017
      I had this app for a while now and I liked it. Recently since it updated it hasn't been working. Always says no matches found. Forced to delete the app. Galaxy S7
      Full Review
      Andrew Halpern May 18, 2017
      I wish it would save the birds I've identified or let me set some as favorites. The bird calls and song audios are phenomenal, it'd be nice to have quicker access to them.
      Full Review
      Justine Nicole May 21, 2017
      when I first installed it, it worked great! even with blurry, poor quality photos, merlin could identify the bird accurately. I was super excited for this app, but it's suddenly just stopped working. when I try to search birds under "explore," it only says "no matches." entering in details doesn't bring up anything either. I have the full US and Canada bird packs, too. it's honestly such a shame this app has stopped working considering the amount of information was provided when it did work; bird calls, accurate, clear photos of birds at different ages and seasons, and habitat range were all shown. I'm really disappointed I've gotten to a point where I need to delete such a promising app.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology May 24, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      Deanna Turley May 27, 2017
      Really loved this app, used it often-until it stopped working. Won't identify any bird info I give it!!
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 1, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      Will Streyer May 20, 2017
      App stopped reporting obvious matches months ago. It use to be great, but is useless now.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology May 24, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      Kelly Tiebout May 18, 2017
      This app is very helpful for a novice bird-watcher. I, too really wish they had a place for you to document & keep track of the birds you've identified.
      Full Review
      Ryan Aparo June 6, 2017
      4.5 stars because there's always room for improvement (smoothness, identified birds list, maybe a clearly defined range of the bird you're on?) But 4.1 average rating is too low for how great this app is, so a 5 from me!
      Full Review
      sorlandetbusker May 24, 2017
      After the most recent update it would show "no results" when searching for any bird, but I uninstalled and re-installed it and now it is working again, so for those of you that are having the same issues, try re-installing the app.
      Full Review
      An Bourbon June 1, 2017
      It didn't go past searching for a bird pack. Re-installed it thinking it didnt download correctly, but the same thing happened.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 8, 2017
      Hello, sorry for the problems you ran into. This has been fixed in the latest release, which is now available in the Play Store. Give that a try and let us know how we are doing!
      Boomer Smyth May 18, 2017
      Why the heck don't they tell us we need a "bird pack" to make this app work? I have to rely on a review to tell me??
      Full Review
      Richard Boatwright May 30, 2017
      Couldn't identify a single potential bird even when I broadened the search terms A LOT. App seems useless.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 1, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      Julia Larson June 5, 2017
      Won't give me any bird matches even when I put in a very common bird in my area.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 6, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now
      Ashley Castelli May 24, 2017
      This app does not work. No matter what criteria I put into the app it says bird not found.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology May 24, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      Bobby Allison May 29, 2017
      Great app, but not 5 stars because I can't record sightings. It would be perfect if you could. I'd pay for that.
      Full Review
      Does it Hurt? May 19, 2017
      Apparently we have no birds here that match in any shape size or colour. Useless. I want a refund
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology May 24, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      Jon Jensen May 26, 2017
      Photo id fails with image classification failed every time
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology June 8, 2017
      Hi Jon, If image classification is failing make sure you are running the latest version of Merlin. If it is still happening, deleting and reinstalling Merlin should get this fixed for you. Happy birding!
      Ruth Nordstrom-Young May 21, 2017
      Really like this app. Great way to identify. I do wish it had some way of saving the birds that I have identified. Other than that, it does exactly what I want it to do.
      Full Review
      Rigel Conway-White May 25, 2017
      Requires an email address for some reason. I see absolutely no value in the requirement. At the very least, this requirement needs to be made very clear in the description.
      Full Review
      Barb D May 22, 2017
      Love this app for identifying birds. Easy to use and informative. Would like to think when I mark "this is my bird" that it gets noted in a database. 🐦Love.
      Full Review
      Digits79 May 25, 2017
      Your go to. Free, no adds, good content, well designed. What else do you want?
      Full Review
      Robert Lee May 18, 2017
      It couldn't identify a chicken. Other than that it's good.
      Full Review
      Scott Grande May 29, 2017
      App crashes constantly.
      Full Review
      Zak Dauer May 21, 2017
      Great for identifying birds! Scientific names would be very much appreciated and easy to add
      Full Review
      Kobi Tate April 28, 2017
      The Photo ID feature is amazing! Had a bird I was having trouble identifying and was able to snag a very basic photo with my phone. Merlin Bird ID was able to identify it, even though the photo was not all that great. Simply amazing use of machine learning technology. (for the record, the bird was a Painted Bunting)
      Full Review
      Joe Dellwo April 24, 2017
      Can't search "Browse all birds". Tried searching several birds by name and family that are in the pack but nothing comes up. Was originally trying to find Pheasant in West Coast pack since ID doesn't seem to work. Still don't know if you have Pheasant in the bird pack.
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology April 6, 2017
      It sounds like the content installation of Merlin did not complete properly. Please try the following: * Tap the menu button in Merlin, then Bird Packs. * Tap on the installed Bird Pack. * Delete that Bird Pack. * Once it is deleted, select a Bird Pack and install it again. * Check to see the images, maps and sounds are working now.
      April 26, 2017
      This app worked well last year. This year, after updating and reinstalling packs, I got a message that the file was corrupted. Will not be reinstalling until I know that I can use it properly again. Very disappointed!!!!
      Full Review
      Cornell Lab of Ornithology April 28, 2017
      I am sorry about the experience, you should be able to try the download again. If that doesn't work, can you send an email to merlinhelp@cornell.edu with the Bird Pack you were downloading, so we can help you figure this out?
      rebe spatz May 13, 2017
      The whole family use this app . We use the Cornell siteS for so many things! Watching chicks hatch, kids site for learning , crafts etc, adlut sites to learn everything! Love them so much. Thanks guy you are AWESOME!!!
      Full Review
      Review deleted

      What's New

      New location shortcut:
      When you are using the Likely Birds feature, just tap the location button in the bottom right corner of the screen to quickly update the bird list to you current location.
      Improved date selector:
      There is now a new option in the date selector– Today. The date (and the bird lists) shown will always stay current when Today is selected!

      Additional information

      Updated
      June 5, 2017
      Size
      Varies with device
      Installs
      100,000 - 500,000
      Current Version
      Varies with device
      Requires Android
      Varies with device
      Content Rating
      PEGI 3
      Learn more
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      Cornell Lab of Ornithology
      Developer
      Visit website Email merlinhelp@cornell.edu Privacy Policy

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