I’ve been a user of this app for long enough that I can’t remember when exactly I started using it. I’m not an advanced birder and I like to pack as light as possible when I go birding or hiking so it comes in handy. I mostly used the step-by-step ID in the early days, but as my interest in attentively listening to and photographing birds has grown, I find myself using the sound and photo ID features more. They’re excellent! I especially love to use this app when visiting my family in Oaxaca, Mexico or my fiancé’s family on O’ahu and Hawai’i Island, despite sound ID being less reliable there (though I’m pleased that the app is up front about this, and when the singing birds are in sight I’ve even wondered if I could contribute identification to the recordings rather than just the other way around). The latest UI update streamlines the IA in a way that’s intuitive to my interests, and at the top of my priorities is the Life List! I really appreciate the fact that I don’t have to go through the ID process to mark a bird as a lifer anymore (a year or two ago when that wasn’t possible I was agonizing over not being able to get the step-by-step ID to show me Bald Eagles). Merlin Bird ID is an amazing app and invaluable asset to me as a bird enthusiast, I really appreciate all the work that goes into it!!

I observed the many peregrine falcons that the city brought to do away with reduce the pigeon population in fact what they reduced is migrating birds given they were exhausted from their long flights. The falcons had their nest in one tall building and in an adjacent building they ate their catch leaving bones spread over the entire roof point is the eight and left bones in a distinctly different area than where they nested and where they perched to hunt. My corner office had a ledge right outside my window where they would stand and when they saw an animal below them a bird below them they would dive at a speed that looked unreal. It was so fast they have special eye coverings when they’re diving reduce in affect of the wind on their eyes there are particular ravenous birds and can hunt often most of the day did janitors in the building where they left their bones had to go up and eliminate the bones at least once every three months they were so numerous shows they don’t exist in Chicago but indeed they exist in distinct enough so that a bird watcher could observe them they were brought in specifically to eliminate our large pigeon flocks but that failed miserably. The pigeon built like a bowling ball could make dramatically quick reversal of motion turns and it’s very hard for falcon Tom White

This app opened my eyes to the world around me. I was never into birds before. I started using it after moving to a more wooded neighborhood in Nashville because I’d never heard so many birds and just wanted to see what was making all these sounds. I was shocked at the numbers of birds around me that I’d never taken the time to see or hear. Thanks to Merlin, I can now identify at least 20 birds by their songs and calls alone and I never knew how happy that would make me. More importantly, and totally unexpectedly, it helped me develop a daily mindfulness routine that was missing in my life before. I have a high stress job in healthcare. Merlin taught me to completely quiet my mind before and after work by being still, listening, and watching. I’d gotten so bogged down by life and stress that many of the little joys and wonders around me had become invisible. That’s no longer the case. Merlin has enriched my life and contributed to my well being and health in a way that sounds incredibly corny and fluffy to describe but it’s absolutely true. Now I’m proudly that weirdo who stops in the parking lot, looks up, and says “there’s a red shouldered hawk somewhere around here.” And it makes me smile before I keep walking to do whatever I need to do that day, a little more amazed by something beautiful in the world. Thank you Cornell and everyone who made this possible.