the birds in your garden

🩊 Anything to do with Wildlife in France, from insects to birds and moles.
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Biloute
Posts: 316
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:41 pm
Location: Vendée

the birds in your garden

#1 Post by Biloute »

I'm not a smartphone-addicted teenager, but I discovered an amazing app: “Merlin ID,” developed by the Cornell Lab. And I wanted to share it with the bird lovers here.
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
In just 10 minutes in my garden early this morning, Merlin identified 17 bird species by their songs—even with all the background noise!
The app shows you the list, and when you tap on a bird’s name, you’ll see its profile, a photo gallery, and audio recordings.
Available on the Play Store and easy to install, it’s a great way to pass the time while having your coffee!
Don’t ask me how it works
 I made the mistake of asking ChatGPT, and I suddenly felt very, very old. :?
Demain est le premier des jours qu'il nous reste Ă  vivre: profitons-en ! :D

Polarengineer
Posts: 848
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:51 am
Location: 23 la Creuse

the birds in your garden

#2 Post by Polarengineer »

good post Biloute, I think most members already have this on their phones as it has been posted before. I do like this app as it has recognised and taught me many bird songs. I now can easily name the birds by call, until the one that is new and a delightful suprise.

demi
Posts: 539
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:18 pm
Location: Loire Atlantique

the birds in your garden

#3 Post by demi »

I have had Merlin for sometime & agree that it is magical! :D

Pathca
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Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:50 am

the birds in your garden

#4 Post by Pathca »

It is really good

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RobertArthur
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Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2021 3:10 pm
Location: NiĂšvre

the birds in your garden

#5 Post by RobertArthur »

Not our garden there in Normandy, not my birds....

Little problem: YouTube is now sometimes enriching your video content, adding ads everywhere since the last 4, 5 weeks. Soon Google could also provide a new service I'm afraid: ads in every email message..." We hope you’ll find this useful, as we’ve noticed (I beg you pardon, are you following along?) that these topics are of interest to you. "

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Blaze
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Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2021 9:06 pm
Location: Ille et Villaine (35)

the birds in your garden

#6 Post by Blaze »

Thanks Biloute. I have Birdnet and I knew there was something better, I just couldn't remember the name !!

widge
Posts: 256
Joined: Sat Feb 08, 2025 8:52 am

the birds in your garden

#7 Post by widge »

Biloute wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2026 10:37 am I'm not a smartphone-addicted teenager, but I discovered an amazing app: “Merlin ID,” developed by the Cornell Lab. And I wanted to share it with the bird lovers here.
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
In just 10 minutes in my garden early this morning, Merlin identified 17 bird species by their songs—even with all the background noise!
The app shows you the list, and when you tap on a bird’s name, you’ll see its profile, a photo gallery, and audio recordings.
Available on the Play Store and easy to install, it’s a great way to pass the time while having your coffee!
Don’t ask me how it works
 I made the mistake of asking ChatGPT, and I suddenly felt very, very old. :?
We have been using it for some time and its been realy good, except for the last couple of months, as the cicadas are so loud they are drowning out the birdsong.

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Biloute
Posts: 316
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:41 pm
Location: Vendée

the birds in your garden

#8 Post by Biloute »

widge wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2026 2:32 pm
Biloute wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2026 10:37 am I'm not a smartphone-addicted teenager, but I discovered an amazing app: “Merlin ID,” developed by the Cornell Lab. And I wanted to share it with the bird lovers here.
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
In just 10 minutes in my garden early this morning, Merlin identified 17 bird species by their songs—even with all the background noise!
The app shows you the list, and when you tap on a bird’s name, you’ll see its profile, a photo gallery, and audio recordings.
Available on the Play Store and easy to install, it’s a great way to pass the time while having your coffee!
Don’t ask me how it works
 I made the mistake of asking ChatGPT, and I suddenly felt very, very old. :?
We have been using it for some time and its been realy good, except for the last couple of months, as the cicadas are so loud they are drowning out the birdsong.
I'm surprised to hear that! There's always quite a bit of noise around here from farmers and vehicles, yet Merlin picks up loads of birds that I can barely hear myself.
On the other hand, this morning the roosters in my village were crowing at the top of their lungs—like it was a competition—but Merlin didn't register them... No big deal, though; being a Gaul myself, I recognize them easily enough! 😁
Demain est le premier des jours qu'il nous reste Ă  vivre: profitons-en ! :D

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Hotrodder
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Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:31 pm
Location: Brittany 22

the birds in your garden

#9 Post by Hotrodder »

No extra apps on our shared smartphone here. I can recognise a lonely pigeon early in the morning but that's about it. A phone would mostly hear passing tractors, cars with boom boom boom music (?), and mopeds with no exhaust silencers fitted. Those mostly sound like taking a long straight at the British Gp but going no faster than a sans permis.
On my headstone it will say: Please switch off mobile phones. I'm trying to get some sleep.

Polly
Posts: 525
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:35 pm
Location: Berkshire

the birds in your garden

#10 Post by Polly »

Yes, I think Merlin is great - I enjoy finding out what birds are around locally. But I particularly like it when sitting quietly on holiday to fund out which birds are around. It’s especially interesting in Scotland when we visit the area around Gairloch and up at Plocton near Skye - both very quiet areas, and it was also useful on our recent trip to Northumbria.

It’s amazing how many bird songs it picks up that I can’t hear despite my very good hearing.

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