Despite having no time to bird this year I've been intrigued by the discussion of the efficacy of the Merlin app for identifying birds by sound. So leaving work this morning at 5:00 a.m. I ran a couple of test runs in the parking lot at millstone station in Waterford. And then I ran several test runs in my yard at home around 5:30 a.m. every single run that I did came up with false positives. Some of the false positives identified were Cape May warbler, brown thrasher repeatedly, Summer tanager, mourning warbler, and misidentification of more common birds such as catbird being called veery. This is a very intriguing app and a useful one. Certainly it will improve, but for the moment users need to be cautious, particularly for uncommon or rare species for the location species. I suspect brown thrasher is getting identified in cases where there are American robins singing near one another and the combined sonogram of the two similar songs slightly offset is resulting in an analysis of a mimid such as brown thrasher. Not sure of course. Despite the false positives I had a good deal of fun listening as bird call happened and watching the app for response. One interesting thing I did Note was several misses of birds that were singing rather loudly near me. A consistent miss was Rose-breasted Grisbeak Dave Proven her Preston Dave Provencher

As an intermediate-skilled birder, I've been finding both Merlin and, less so, BirdNet to be very helpful apps, with all the cautions others have used. Merlin seems to be very sensitive to distant calls that I often do not hear myself, causing me to move and listen closely, sometimes finding the birds and sometimes not. But Merlin does cause me to question my own assumptions, and, I think, makes me a better birder. At Willard's point on Saturday we were alerted by another birder that there was a clapper rail in the marsh and, as we approached that area, we heard it loud and clear. Yay, a clapper! We tried hard but were unable to see it. Yet Merlin said, after several recordings, that it was a King rail. I would not have expected a King rail -- it was a salt marsh, clappers are more common, and the other birder had said it was a clapper. Yet Merlin got me questioning. We ran into Frank Mantlik (lucky!) and he noted that they can cross-breed, and possibly what we all were hearing was a hybrid. Thanks for reminding me not to make assumptions, Merlin! Sarah Faulkner Collinsville > On 05/18/2022 6:20 AM David Provencher via CTBirds <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> wrote: > > > Despite having no time to bird this year I've been intrigued by the > discussion of the efficacy of the Merlin app for identifying birds by > sound. So leaving work this morning at 5:00 a.m. I ran a couple of test > runs in the parking lot at millstone station in Waterford. And then I ran > several test runs in my yard at home around 5:30 a.m. every single run that > I did came up with false positives. Some of the false positives identified > were Cape May warbler, brown thrasher repeatedly, Summer tanager, mourning > warbler, and misidentification of more common birds such as catbird being > called veery. This is a very intriguing app and a useful one. Certainly it > will improve, but for the moment users need to be cautious, particularly > for uncommon or rare species for the location species. I suspect brown > thrasher is getting identified in cases where there are American robins > singing near one another and the combined sonogram of the two similar songs > slightly offset is resulting in an analysis of a mimid such as brown > thrasher. Not sure of course. Despite the false positives I had a good deal > of fun listening as bird call happened and watching the app for response. > One interesting thing I did Note was several misses of birds that were > singing rather loudly near me. A consistent miss was Rose-breasted Grisbeak > > Dave Proven her > Preston > > Dave Provencher > > CTBirds, a service of Connecticut Ornithological Association - Bringing birders together statewide. Please support COA: https://www.ctbirding.org/join-us/ > CTBirds is for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. For list rules and subscription information visit: https://www.ctbirding.org/birds-birding/ct-birds-email-list/

There's a lot being said, good and bad, about the new Merlin Sound ID added to their app. One thing to check on your app is if it is the latest update from a day or two ago. That update may help with some of the false positives, I know it did with mine. Cornell is listening to us and working to make Merlin better. I agree with what someone else has said, check into what is being seen in that area, what your recording sounds like vs what eBird says the bird sounds are. Record a 2nd time, see if it changes or confirms. Keep observing. My favorite was standing 2’ in front of a Northern Mockingbird at Meigs Point last month and recording his song list. Merlin Sound confirmed he did a wicked Belted Kingfisher! Celeste Echlin, Harwinton