If you’re reading this article, you probably enjoy watching birds. However, we’re sure you’ve also found bird identification frustrating at times. What are those little black and yellow birds I keep seeing behind the cottage? What’s that song I keep hearing?
Well, bird identification by sight and sound has now become far simpler thanks to two wonderful free apps for Apple and Android called eBird and Merlin Bird ID. Developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, they have become essential resources for both serious bird-watchers and backyard bird enthusiasts all over the world.
A passion for birds is not limited to adults. With just a little encouragement, pre-teens and adolescents can become obsessed with birding. What’s more, their keen eyes and ears can put older birders to shame. Take our friend Luke Berg. By the age of 16, he was already one of the top birders in central Ontario. We swear he could hear a chickadee burp a mile away!
Merlin Bird ID
Merlin Bird ID helps you identify birds you see and hear. Unlike other bird identification apps, it is powered by eBird (see below), the world's largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos.
To identify an unknown bird, Merlin asks you a few simple questions: When and where did you see the bird? What size was it? What were the main colours? What was it doing? It will then show you photos of the most likely species for your area on that day, based on eBird data for your region. You then choose the bird that’s the closest match and, if you wish, save it to the life list feature.
Merlin will also identify birds from a photo you’ve taken, either directly with your smartphone or using a snapshot of the photo displayed on your camera’s screen. With the Sound ID feature, you simply click on the microphone and a list and photo of the birds singing around you will magically appear.
We love another feature on Merlin called “Explore Birds.” It provides photos of all the likely birds in your area along with ID information, songs and calls, and a continent-wide map of where it’s found at different times of the year. If you’re traveling to a different part of the U.S. or Canada (e.g., west of Manitoba) or a different country all together, you can even download “bird packs” of all the species found there.
eBird
A treasure-trove of birding resources comes courtesy of eBird. In a nutshell, it is a simple, organized way to keep track of all your bird sightings. However, it will also help you find more birds by providing the location of local birding “hotspots” as well as the latest sightings in your region. When you submit your checklists, you’ll also be contributing to an international bird database used by scientists, conservationists, and educators.
Access eBird via the eBird.org website or through the app. The app allows you to collect and submit bird observations directly from the field. You simply enter when, where, and how (e.g., stationary, traveling) you went birding, and then fill out a checklist of all the birds seen and heard. When entering sightings, you’ll be presented with a list of likely birds for that date and region.
eBird will help you find any species you’re interested in. You can receive daily email alerts of rare birds seen in your area as well as birds you’ve yet to see. A feature called “My eBird” gives you access to your life list and year list totals, past checklists, locations, photos, sounds, and much more.
One feature of eBird we really like are the bar charts. For a given district or county such as Rainy River, the charts show what species are present, when, and how common they are. Here’s an example of how it works. Click on Explore, choose Explore Regions and enter Rainy River. You then click on Bar Charts and choose the desired date range such as Entire Year. The higher the bar, the more common the bird is.
To get started with these amazing apps, check out “How to use eBird: A Beginner’s Guide” and “Explore Merlin Bird ID App” on YouTube. If you’re anything like us, you’ll find yourself motivated to get out birding more often and to find new species. Be careful, though. It can become an addiction. We know!
Some fun activities
- How many birds can you identify at your feeder, in your neighbourhood, or at the cottage?
- How many different species can you tally in a day, month, season, or year?
- Using the Hotspot feature on eBird, explore the best birding areas in your region such as Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg.
- See how many backyard or cottage birds you can photograph with a camera that will zoom in. Using a smartphone, take a picture of the bird displayed on the camera’s screen. Use the Photo ID function on Merlin to identify the bird.
- Have a family bird quiz by showing a photo or playing the song of common birds. To hide the name on the screen, just enlarge the photo slightly.
- Ten of the most common summer cottage birds to learn by sight and sound are: Common Loon, Blue Jay, Northern Flicker, Red-eyed Vireo, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin, American Goldfinch, White-throated Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.
- A final tip: Whenever you see or hear small birds in trees, you can often draw them in closer by “pishing.” Take a deep breath and make the sound “shhhh” but add a “p” in front of it. Simply repeat “pshhhh” seven or eight times in a row (i.e., pshhhh, pshhhh,…), stop to catch your breath, then do it again. Sparrows, chickadees, nuthatches, and warblers are especially curious about this sound.