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Merlin Bird ID: Free instant Bird ID for 400 Birds of North America

Cornell is sharing a new, free, bird app that you and your students may use in the field or in classrooms for bird identification. It is also a great app to use for Girl Scout and Boy Scout merit badges. Take a look and see if this app is useful to you.

http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/download/

iPhone and iPad—You’ll need iOS 7

iphone-downloadMerlin runs on any Apple handheld device with iOS 7 and 630 MB of free space. To download, click on the App Store icon from your device. Then search for “Merlin Bird ID.” You will need a wi-fi connection to install the app.

Or, click on the button below. (This becomes active when you visit the website.)

Answer Five Quick Questions and Find Out Which Bird You Saw
Merlin Bird ID—available for iOS devices and just released for Android—is a revolutionary new app for identifying common birds of North America. What's so revolutionary?
• It asks you five simple questions about the bird you saw and then gives you a short list of the most likely possibilities
• That short list is a smart list—Merlin uses data from our eBird project to tell you which birds are most likely to be seen near you, right now
• It’s loaded with 2,000 top-quality photos and 1,000 songs and calls to help you confirm your ID
• It’s completely free
The app now covers 400 species and is available for iOS 7 devices and Android OS4 and higher (it's not available for Kindle, Nook, or Windows phone). It is a large download (630 MB), so please use a wifi connection when you download it. Thanks to Pennington for sponsoring the creation of the Android version.

Merlin is a great tool for beginning birders or anyone who wants to help share their love of birds.
Download the free app now.

Please give us a shout if you integrate this birding app into educational lessons. Thanks a bunch.
~patty

Hi Dorothy, e-bird is global but Merlin has US birds at this time. It might be fun for non-US students to name them since the globe shares many of the same species of birds that have different names.

Here is a note from Jessie Barry, she is a fantastic ornithologist who has done the 24-hr World Series of Birding for a Cornell Team during the Cape May Bird Observations World Series of Birding Day Guide to Merlin as a Pocket Coach Subject: Merlin 101: a guide to your pocket birding coach Reply-To: [email protected] Seen any exciting birds recently? We hope Merlin has helped you put a name to the birds you’ve seen. Beyond step-by-step ID help, Merlin has other features you might find useful. For example, browsing the species in the list of results is a great way to discover other birds that may be nearby. With more than 1,000 birdsong recordings and 2,000 beautiful images, Merlin has a lot for you to explore. Here’s a handy tip sheet for getting the most out of Merlin. Have fun, Jessie Barry Merlin Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology Here is the url for the handy Tip Sheet http://dl.allaboutbirds.org/merlin-tip-sheet?utm_campaign=2014+06+Merlin+Lead+Nurturing+Campaign&utm_source=hs_automation&utm_medium=email&utm_content=13394507&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_VOsvDc2GMgBmKdCOOIpxfIJggwEC3esfeF30m-m5f96w77gDJsxQZdseTJlZeVAixj_iAq8PMdU-fnQR6DSbW1xaHuw&_hsmi=13394507 but you have to complete the on-line form with your desired mail address. Good Birding All!! ~patty

Hi Marisela! I love that you love this app. It would be just super if you would continue to share with us when you use the app and encourage your friends to share with us too! Are you a birder? Do you use birds and their environments and migrations in any lessons that you teach? We love hearing your enthusiasm and your voice. Keep chiming in! ~patty