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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To tell you about the Merlin app - Shazam for birds?

399 replies

HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 19/05/2023 12:35

I have just discovered an app which identifies birds by sound and appearance.
In two days I’ve become addicted to listening to various bird song at different times of day.

From my garden I’ve heard over a dozen different birds from robins to coots and collared doves, jackdaws and great tits.

It’s just so lovely to take a few minutes out of the day and just listen to the sounds around us.

My DD is currently travelling through Bulgaria on her way to Turkey and I’m hoping she will install the app too.

Sadly this app is nothing to do with me , I wish I could have invented it. I’ve no skin in the birdsong game. I just wanted to share it as it’s difficult to find little minutes of peace throughout the day and this app does that for me.

Im in suburban/edge of green belt Hertfordshire and I’d love to hear what other mnetters hear too. Particularly ones outside the Uk.

thread title edited by MNHQ at OP's request.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
21
JoanThursday · 21/05/2023 11:56

PurpleFresias · 21/05/2023 10:32

thanks OP, this app is amazing! I've tried Birdnet but it's really faffy, and doesn't show the birds you're hearing in real time.

I'll be boring everyone with it now

Yes, I've been using BirdNet too. Off to investigate this new app now!

DejaVoodoo · 21/05/2023 11:57

Of course YANBU.

It's a beautiful morning on the South Wales coast, and I've been lolloping on my balcony, amazed at all the lovely birds I'm identifying with this app. ... some of which I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of before.

Those blackbirds are gobshites though! Let someone else get a chirp in, FGS!

Original poster
HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 21/05/2023 12:38

DejaVoodoo · 21/05/2023 11:57

Of course YANBU.

It's a beautiful morning on the South Wales coast, and I've been lolloping on my balcony, amazed at all the lovely birds I'm identifying with this app. ... some of which I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of before.

Those blackbirds are gobshites though! Let someone else get a chirp in, FGS!

It’s the sparrows here that are always chirping away.

Unashamedly, I posted in AIBU for the traffic. I don’t think I enabled the vote. I am absolutely NBU as you said.😀😀

OP posts:
Isis1981uk · 21/05/2023 13:40

Thank you so much for this, it's become my new obsession since I read your post! Since using it yesterday in my garden in Oxfordshire, I've regularly heard House Sparrows, European Robins, Eurasian Blackbirds, & Common Wood-Pigeons, and also heard the following a few times: European Starling, Eurasian Blackcap, Common Swift, Eurasian Magpie, European Goldfinch, Common Chaffinch.

And was lucky enough to hear the rare/at risk Eurasian Tree Sparrow once.

I'm starting to recognise the robin's call now!

JoanThursday · 21/05/2023 13:52

App duly downloaded. Its fab! All this in less than 90 secs.

To tell you about the Merlin app - Shazam for birds?
JulieHoney · 21/05/2023 14:03

I keep running down my phone battery using the microphone!

Since I started yesterday I have found:

Collared Dove
Wood Pigeon
Blackbird
Starling
Robin
House Sparrow
Dunnock
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Magpie
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Goldcrest
House Martin
Red Kite

I could recognise about 2/3 by ear already but it’s really helped me learn some new ones.

Original poster
HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 21/05/2023 14:06

Isis1981uk · 21/05/2023 13:40

Thank you so much for this, it's become my new obsession since I read your post! Since using it yesterday in my garden in Oxfordshire, I've regularly heard House Sparrows, European Robins, Eurasian Blackbirds, & Common Wood-Pigeons, and also heard the following a few times: European Starling, Eurasian Blackcap, Common Swift, Eurasian Magpie, European Goldfinch, Common Chaffinch.

And was lucky enough to hear the rare/at risk Eurasian Tree Sparrow once.

I'm starting to recognise the robin's call now!

Your bird selection is very similar to mine in Hertfordshire. I also heard a tree sparrow and a song sparrow! That’s on top of the regular house sparrows that never shut up. I didn’t even know there were so many different types of sparrow until I downloaded this app.

it does make me wish this app was around when my DC were young. DS 15, is more interested in football and rock bands now but as a youngster he would have loved this. Hopefully my DD , who is now in Istanbul for a few days, has downloaded the app but contact with her has been hampered by internet problems so I won’t know if she’s heard any fabulous exotic feathered creatures until she gets back to the UK.

OP posts:
Original poster
HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 21/05/2023 14:08

@JulieHoney
thats a fine selection you’ve got there.

I want to hear a dunnock now <stamps feet>

OP posts:
JulieHoney · 21/05/2023 14:16

HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 21/05/2023 14:08

@JulieHoney
thats a fine selection you’ve got there.

I want to hear a dunnock now <stamps feet>

We have resident dunnocks in the garden, we are very good friends with them. Polyamorous wee beasties.

Asiatoyork · 21/05/2023 14:42

Ooh I’ve just downloaded this and hoping to sate my curiosity of what the ‘whoo-oO-oO’ bird I hear all the time is (in Asia so excited to see what I get)

Scautish · 21/05/2023 17:07

OMG I love this app! Thank you OP.

apparently there’s a Linnet and a Corn Bunting in my garden. Absolutely love this.

redspottedmug · 21/05/2023 21:11

Has anyone else almost dropped their phone out of the window? Blush

CrepuscularCritter · 21/05/2023 22:03

This app is the gift that keeps on giving. I am now intrigued as to why the house sparrows only live at the front of the house and all the tits and finches at the back, while the blackbird loves the sound of his own voice and flies up and down the side passage creating his own doppler effect. I can see months of entertainment ahead.

funnelfan · 21/05/2023 23:04

DH has returned from his weekend away and I’ve shared my excitement with him. As a lifelong twitcher he reckons it’s useful for an amateur like me but also needs a sanity check before being carried away. Eg it told me there was a golden oriole this afternoon and he listened to my recording and can’t hear it (plus said I would have been inundated by local twitchers if it was).

So I think it’s good at loud/clear/close bird calls, but it seems to struggle with faint ones and when there’s a bit of a bird party going on. It also seems to struggle differentiating been closely related birds like hooded & common crows, tree & house sparrows, starlings and spotless starlings.

TabithaTitanium · 21/05/2023 23:11

It also got a Starling muddled up with a Jay for me. I could clearly see the Starling squawking on the bird feeder but the app told me it was a Jay.

Yes redspottedmug I nearly dropped my phone out my bedroom window this morning, listening to the dawn chorus 😂

Asiatoyork · 22/05/2023 00:42

did anyone in the UK get a message saying it’s not that accurate for birds in that region? I got one for where I am.

PoseyFlump · 22/05/2023 06:34

So now I know it's a blackbird waking me up every morning with a beautiful song!

BarbaraofSeville · 22/05/2023 07:28

Yes, the blackbirds are noisy bastards aren't they?

I haven't RTFT but just want to add another thanks to the OP for the recommendation.

I've used it a few times over the weekend and as well as the standard blackbirds, sparrows and pigeons, it's also identified a load of birds I've never heard of (common chiffchaffs and greater whitethroats) that just look like sparrows unless viewed through binoculars. Plus robins, wrens and blue tits, doves, magpies, goldfinch etc.

Just waiting for the next time I can't sleep so will try and identify the owl I can often hear in the middle of the night.

DejaVoodoo · 22/05/2023 07:48

Oh my! Well I went out again yesterday for another listen, and came across the Barbie Girl blackbird!
It sings "I'm a Barbie girl, in a b" (stopping abruptly) absolutely note perfectly! It did it a few times.
Made DH and I laugh! I'll be out listioning for Barbie again today.

As for accuracy, it doesn't claim to be infallible. It's just meant to suggest likely matches and be used in conjunction with other observations to identify a bird.

KrisAkabusi · 22/05/2023 07:50

Your bird selection is very similar to mine in Hertfordshire. I also heard a tree sparrow and a song sparrow!

Song sparrow is a north American species, so you almost certainly haven't! People need to be careful with these apps and not trust them 100%.

Original poster
HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 22/05/2023 07:54

Asiatoyork · 22/05/2023 00:42

did anyone in the UK get a message saying it’s not that accurate for birds in that region? I got one for where I am.

Nope, nothing like that. Have you had any results that you definitely know are right? I’m very excited at the thought of your Asian bird species.

Yes @redspottedmug I’ve also nearly come a cropper too .

I’ve also noticed that sometimes the spotted/spotless starlings get confused. However, as I’m fairly sure that I don’t have a Yankee sparrow in my garden , it’s fairly easy to ignore.

A golden oriole on the other hand might possibly be confusing though as although technically possible, it’s very unlikely I suppose.

Like anything, it’s not foolproof. I
must say I am very impressed still.

OP posts:
Original poster
HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 22/05/2023 07:56

Yankee starling not sparrow. Gah. I’ve been awake for 4 hours already so I can’t use the excuse of just woken up.

OP posts:
RitaCrudgington · 22/05/2023 08:51

I went out for a walk to a new park and was very impressed with the new version of the app, but slightly baffled by the fact that I stood right next to two socking great Canada Geese who were honking for their lives and the app didn't clock that there were any birds at all. Goose honks are apparently not in their repertoire.

To tell you about the Merlin app - Shazam for birds?
Asiatoyork · 22/05/2023 11:35

I’ve not had the chance to use it today. I’ll try and go for a walk this evening and see if I can catch any!

Original poster
HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 22/05/2023 16:18

I was looking at the attached picture and feeling a bit sad when Merlin sent me a notification. Looks like I got my dunnuck after all.

I realised that I need to buy a pair of binoculars as I’d love to see some of the birds, not just hear them.

To tell you about the Merlin app - Shazam for birds?
OP posts: