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AIBU?

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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
NeverDropYourMooncup · 24/05/2023 19:14

PoseyFlump · 24/05/2023 06:12

I keep hearing a bird whistle but haven't managed to catch it yet. We have a lot of starlings, so might be them.

It's a high to low whistle, the sound of something dropping out the sky. Does anyone recognise it?

Like a cartoon bomb? Usually Starlings round here.

funnelfan · 24/05/2023 19:19

Hollowgast · 24/05/2023 15:20

Not nature related, but Flightradar 24 is a fun app that lets you see where a plane is going to / coming from and can be really interesting. The nautical equivalent is Vesselfinder. My family are all thoroughly bored impressed when I point out that the ship on the horizon is from Liberia.

Flightradar24 is great, but we get a lot of military planes that don’t show up so I use it in conjunction with https://globe.adsbexchange.com which is less user friendly but better coverage (although still not 100%)

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live - aircraft flight history

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/

Hollowgast · 24/05/2023 19:28

funnelfan · 24/05/2023 19:19

Flightradar24 is great, but we get a lot of military planes that don’t show up so I use it in conjunction with https://globe.adsbexchange.com which is less user friendly but better coverage (although still not 100%)

Show quote history

Thanks, I'll have a look. Interestingly the helicopters that flew over the palace on coronation day were visible on FR24, but the red arrows weren't.

funnelfan · 24/05/2023 19:36

Red arrows sometimes show up (well, one of them does) and often spot the Battle of Britain memorial flight. There’s a helicopter training school somewhere near Wales border. Often see hawks, typhoons and Eurofighters but when the US air force does joint training you very rarely see their fighters on there (but I see them going over the house)

PoseyFlump · 24/05/2023 20:23

@GerundTheBehemoth it's not the greenfinch but thank you for the sound recording!

Like a cartoon bomb?

That's exactly it! @NeverDropYourMooncup and we have lots of starlings so definitely that. It's the funniest sound, makes me chuckle.

Original poster
HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 25/05/2023 07:06

Vessel finder!!!!

I guess the fact I’m in a landlocked county accounts for the fact that I’ve never heard of this one.

Planning on a special trip to the seaside now. 😀

OP posts:
JulieHoney · 25/05/2023 08:39

It’s possibly worth flagging that the Mistle Thrush has an l alarm call similar to the blackbird but a bit richer.

I keep getting a Mistle Thrush on the app when it’s two or more blackbirds sounding the alarm as a cat walks past.

It took me a while to figure it out, but as there was no other time it found a Mistle Thrush I thought it unlikely one just turned up for 2 seconds to yell and then scarpered 😂

It also mistook my neighbour’s baby yelling for an owl 🦉👶

evtheria · 25/05/2023 19:19

MN is such a terrible influence! I already use the flight tracker sites, then got this bird one, and now someone's just gone and mentioned there's one for boats...

Showed DS the bird app today after school, he was enthralled - asked if we can go for some walks this weekend to try it out more.

Madcats · 26/05/2023 17:14

There's a blooming bird that does a great impression of a car alarm and it also does the "beep thingy" of my oven and washing machine that tells me it has finished. I think it must be on the older blackbirds as Merlin isn't 'fessing up to any other birds around.

Is that likely?

NeverDropYourMooncup · 26/05/2023 17:40

Madcats · 26/05/2023 17:14

There's a blooming bird that does a great impression of a car alarm and it also does the "beep thingy" of my oven and washing machine that tells me it has finished. I think it must be on the older blackbirds as Merlin isn't 'fessing up to any other birds around.

Is that likely?

Starlings, again. They used to drive people crazy in my old block of flats at this time of year by mimicking the sound of landline phones, take the piss out of the local cats and making people wonder if somebody had just messed around with their car alarm with the beep beep of switching it on.

I love starlings. Rowdy little punk rockers rampaging over the place like a bunch of 17 year olds on a school trip.

evtheria · 26/05/2023 17:50

@Madcats I agree with @NeverDropYourMooncup - starlings hang about our local McDonald's and they like to mimic car noises, and other odd beeps etc.

TabithaTitanium · 26/05/2023 18:26

I love starlings. Rowdy little punk rockers rampaging over the place like a bunch of 17 year olds on a school trip

Ha ha that's exactly what they're like, in their little leather jackets 🤣😂

The Starling in the garden today was doing an impression of a Greenfinch (as picked up by the app) bold as brass right in front of my face!!!

NooNakedJacuzziness · 26/05/2023 18:36

Once I used to finish work on a Friday and head straight to the pub. Today thanks to OP I headed off to a local wooded area and held my phone aloft like a weirdo. Totally worth it cos I got a chiffchaff and a Blackcap - winning at life here!

PoseyFlump · 27/05/2023 06:58

Love that @NooNakedJacuzziness and love the username, those were the days!

PoseyFlump · 27/05/2023 06:58

Is there anywhere on the app where you can see a list of all the birds you've spotted so far?

PoseyFlump · 27/05/2023 07:01

Good to know starlings can mimic. I kept swearing last year I could hear an iPhone alarm going off!

JayAlfredPrufrock · 27/05/2023 07:39

If you click in the left corner it shows a list of all your recordings and the birds.

FatFilledTrottyPuss · 27/05/2023 07:52

I’d heard about various bird apps but couldn’t fathom how they could possibly identify individual birds when there’s so much noise from so many birds in my garden.
Thanks to reading this thread a few days ago I downloaded Merlin and I’m now on my way to being a full on ornithologist, along with half my family and colleagues who I’ve told about it. It’s brilliant! Thanks so much @HoofWankingSpangleCunt
I’ve walked round the garden this morning and heard sparrow, wood pigeon, blackbird, chaffinch, willow warbler, jackdaw, blackcap, blue tit, mistle thrush, rook, carrion crow, skylark and robin!

PleaseJustText · 27/05/2023 13:02

Thanks for this OP. I had no idea about the app until I saw this thread last week. I tested it out at the RSPB headquarters last weekend and it was useful to know what I was looking for. Ironically I've picked up more species sat here in my back garden than I did on my 2 hour walk Grin

WarningToTheCurious · 27/05/2023 13:46

Apparently my squawky cat gets identified as a fish crow 🤣

The app is suggesting that I download the North America bird pack.

Madcats · 27/05/2023 15:44

PoseyFlump · 27/05/2023 07:01

Good to know starlings can mimic. I kept swearing last year I could hear an iPhone alarm going off!

I've checked with my Merlin app neighbours and am sat out in a blissfully DIY free terrace.

My "car alarm" bloke is definitely a blackbird. He is currently chatting to a "trad" songster a few houses down.

Well, I presume it is a "he".

Pixiedust1234 · 27/05/2023 17:52

Apparently my squawky cat gets identified as a fish crow 🤣

😂😂

Okay I seem to have a problem. Today is the first day I could use it and its not working. Is it me or the app? I downloaded it, clicked Sound ID, recorded it and it said no matches...but but i know it was a beautiful blackbird song😕

WarningToTheCurious · 27/05/2023 18:11

@Pixiedust1234

Did you get a prompt to download a “bird pack”? You can do this by clicking on the menu button in top left corner.

PoseyFlump · 27/05/2023 18:24

@Madcats 😂😂

This app is great. Although I can hear birds chatting all the time now. I must have blocked it out before!

Pixiedust1234 · 27/05/2023 18:31

WarningToTheCurious · 27/05/2023 18:11

@Pixiedust1234

Did you get a prompt to download a “bird pack”? You can do this by clicking on the menu button in top left corner.

yes, I have Europe: Britain and Ireland.

I forgot to mention, I did get an email and clicked on the link so its not that. I have three recordings and the sound of the bird is clear but it says no matches.

I know its user error but I cant figure out what I need to do. Might delete the app and try again 😳