The Merlin app
When walking in the woods, birds are often heard but not seen, a peripheral presence flitting between trees and undergrowth.
Notes and comments
- Can get confused (eg, confusing a common chaffinch for a rare redstart) or mistakenly suggest North American birds in Europe1.
- Provides pre-recorded examples of calls and other typical sounds for reference, including dates & locations for the recordings.
Screnshots
- PS: did I hear a black woodpecker (picchio nero, Drycopus martius)? Genuinely not sure. I often see European green woodpeckers (picchio verde, Picus viridis), but I’ve not so far seen a black woodpecker. The call was quite distinct, though, and we are (just) within range for the black woodpecker, so… ?
-
Patrick Barkham, “‘It brings you closer to the natural world’: the rise of the Merlin birdsong identifying app”, The Guardian, 27 December 2025, theguardian.com – Mostly positive, but notes some issues with reliability and that it still cannot outperform a knowledgeable person (but that not everyone may have access to such a person!) ↩︎