Merlin App Appreciation plus General Birding Chat

[DiggoryVenn]

A thread for all lovers of the Merlin app (app that allows you to identify birds by their sound). A place to share what you have spotted, ask questions and any other bird chat.

Caveat: I am pretty much a novice birdwatcher myself.

Mine for today: not sure about the Cetti's warbler but I could positively identify the rest.

@MissMarplesNiece I love goldfinches - such pretty birds.

I'm going to ask @mnhq if this thread can be moved to the new Wildlife, Nature and Conservation board as I think it would gain a bit more interest there.

Hi all can I join?!

I've spent the morning trying to work and not get distracted by the birds in my (tiny) garden.

It's very difficult as there a lovely blue tit that keeps come to wash himself/herself just near my window.

I just did a very brief Merlin recording, an the story it doesn't tell is there is about 10,000 house sparrows all of whom appear to be arguing with a magpie.

Absolutely love the app! My kids think I'm going mad 😆.
Some of this mornings haul - we could hear the Jay creating havoc in the garden.

Thank you for this thread!
I use Merlin every morning when walking and most days come back with 25-30 species. It's not perfect, it can't be, but I love it. It alerted me a few months ago to a murmuration of Golden Plovers and I was childishly excited 😊

Yesterday was a good day bird wise for me. Here's a few highlights. The water birds are because I live near open farmland and wetlands. Later on, I caught the wagtails a fee miles away outside DDs school. There's always tons of them there for some reason.

Oh wow, these are all amazing! I have been up to South Stack on Anglesey this morning (thanks @Festina for the suggestion). I saw three puffins (thanks to a tip off from one of the RSPB guides) and got a couple of photos - think this is a dunnock and a female stonechat? I captured a chough on the merlin app but I didn't actually see one.

I haven’t used the app but have been watching the baby blue tits going from sitting in the trees sitting waiting to be fed to sitting on my feeder, and now they are helping themselves.
I’ve also had a pair of jackdaws coming, which I haven’t had before.

I have regular jackdaws. The great tits fledged and disappeared, no revisiting from them. The blue tits come en famille, despite not having nested in my garden.

And the robins fledged while I wasn’t looking and haven’t been back. I think one must have got lost as a Robin has been calling endlessly from the fence. I have had a good look, made sure he isn’t stuck on or in anything. No sign.

@DiggoryVenn, you’re right - female stonechat and dunnock. Lovely photos.

@myplace it must be lovely watching birds fledge from nests in your own garden.

On my way back from Anglesey, we stopped at WWT Slimbridge today and saw a kingfisher which was really special, but pretty fleeting. I think there are a couple of eggs on this avocet nest.

@DiggoryVenn I do like tufted ducks!

I had this issue the email had gone into my spam

I started using this app last week after having known about it for a while, and now just wish I'd started using it earlier. It's quickly become my favourite app, and it's taking me much longer to get around on my usual post-work walks because I keep stopping to use this app. It's really addictive seeing new species come up when you're recording birdsong and adding them to your life list.

But, it got me wondering how other people do this. Is hearing a bird enough for you to add it to your life list, even if you can't see it? Or do you only add it once you've visually identified it?

I've downloaded Merlin on the back of this thread. It's fascinating. I'm sat in the garden trying to learn which bird is which.

We have lots of robins but they're not making any sounds at the moment.

Love all the more unusual birds you seem to have. I'll have to travel further than the garden 🤣.

You don't always have to go very far to see a few more birds than the garden regulars. This morning, walking round Preston docks while waiting for a car to be serviced we saw black backed gulls, crested grebes and common terns

I love Merlin. Here is mine today after going for a walk through nearby wooded area.

I love Merlin too, it gets onto location unknown sometimes and comes up with all sorts of far flung birds which I got very excited about and started looking for, until I realised

@GoldfinchFeather I personally don’t add birds to my year list unless I’ve seen them.

Having said that, hearing something significantly improves my chances of spotting it anyway so it’s rare that I don’t see something after I’ve heard it. Only bird I can think of where that happens (all the time!) is bitterns.

Thank you for this thread. I downloaded the app yesterday to find out what was waking me at 3.35am everyday this week. It’s an Eurasian Blackbird and chuffing hell its loud!

@MaximusPaddimous , You’ve got another few weeks before that settles down! We have 5 competing males blackbirds audible from our bedroom and it took me two years of living here to be able to sleep through the May and June singing.

I went for a walk along a river in a park at lunchtime today where I walk regularly and used the sound identification on the app which came back with kingfishers. I didn't see them and haven't caught a glimpse of one in many years, so was very excited that they might be there.

i only recognise a raven, a magpie, a jackdaw and a wood pigeon,
perhaps a blackbird but am less confident

I’m currently maintaining a monthly list, because I want to see how the birds round here change during the different seasons. Since getting Merlin I have two lists, ones I’ve seen that month, and ones that Merlin has ID’d but I haven’t seen, then if I do see them I move them to the seen list.
I do put them on my Merlin life list if I only hear them but I know I’ve seen them before - as far as I can see there’s no way to add birds you saw before you got the app with the right date, which is a pity because I’d like to add the birds I saw on a birdwatching trip on the River Nile a few years ago.
I got the app in March this year, and I did try using a photo I took last year of a Great White Stork in a local field The life list put it in on April 11th, which was the correct date, and which it must have got from the exif data on the photo, but not 2024.

Love Merlin. What amazes me is that I go to walk in the woods not far from my house and it will come up with various names - blackcap. whitethroat, chiffchaff and so on - and I will look them up and they are fairly distinctive looking but I am sure I have never seen them in my whole life. Lots of birds come in my garden but there are all these others that have been invisible to me.

i must make a list, on my computer, since my phone app fills up so much i have to keep deleting