Using the Merlin App

When I returned from this morning’s dog walk, I read the NDOC Field Views newsletter, and enjoyed the feature about the Merlin app. It made me think of today’s walk: I heard the unmistakable (now without any apps) call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. I stood looking upwards for many minutes before I was rewarded by seeing it, right at the top of a very tall tree.

I pondered how, one year or so ago, I would have missed this. As a novice birder, Merlin has been invaluable to me.

During the lockdown, one of my neighbours was enthusiastic about an app that he and his wife were using to identify the bird songs they heard on their daily walk. I won’t name the app, but I tried it and was not impressed – everything I heard was identified as either Robin or Wren it seemed! So, I lost interest in apps, until I was out with Newbury Birders and one of the members, I think it may have been Alan, recommended Merlin to me. Well, it has transformed my birding.

I come out with Newbury Birders whenever I can, and have learned a tremendous amount from members explaining what they can see and hear – but the app lets me practice on my daily dog walks around Speen Moors. I start the app, identify what I can hear and then compare with the app. Often Merlin will pick up something that I have missed – for example early in the summer the app was regularly suggesting Willow Warbler and after a few weeks I was hearing it myself, and was seeing a Willow Warbler quite regularly. Over this year I have learned the songs and calls with the help of Merlin, by hearing and then seeing, of Grasshopper Warbler, Garden Warbler, Little Grebe, Water Rail, Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit and more.

My aim with each bird is to get to the stage where I am confident in my sound ID without checking with Merlin – it takes a while but if I can learn a few more each season, that is fine.

It does suggest odd birds sometimes – for example over the winter it was regularly finding an Oystercatcher in the park, and even in my garden – I never saw it and I’m not sure what little snatch of sound Merlin was picking up. And I looked very hard for the Redstart that was suggested more than once, but have yet to see it. But then, there is always the possibility that there might be one hiding in the bushes – who knows?

Editor's note: The "Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab" app can be installed on a mobile phone and is free to use. For help installing and using the app, search for "merlin app help centre" in your browser.