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What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery.
Merlin helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos.
Merlin offers four fun ways to identify birds. Answer a few simple questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore birds in a region.
Whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird you can find, the answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE MERLIN
• Expert ID tips, range maps, photos, and sounds help you learn about the birds you spot and build birding skills.
• Discover a new bird species each day with your own personalized Bird of the Day
• Get customized lists of birds you can find where you live or travel - anywhere in the world!
• Keep track of your sightings—build your personal list of the birds you find
MACHINE LEARNING MAGIC
• Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Sound ID and Photo ID uses machine learning to identify birds in photos and sounds. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of millions of photos and sounds collected by birders at eBird.org, archived in the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• Merlin delivers the most accurate results thanks to experienced birders, who curate and annotate sightings, photos, and sounds, who are the true magic behind Merlin.
AMAZING CONTENT
• Merlin has bird photos, songs, and calls, and identification help for anywhere in the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, and more.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s mission is to interpret and conserve the Earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds and nature. We are able to offer Merlin for free thanks to the generosity of Cornell Lab members, supporters, and citizen-science contributors.
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Deep-Dive FAQs
What is Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab?
Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab is a digital product or tool described as: Cornell University
Where did Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab originate?
Data for Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab was aggregated directly from the Apple App Store community ecosystem, representing raw developer and early-adopter sentiment.
When was Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab publicly launched?
The initial public indexing or launch date for Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab within our tracked developer communities was recorded on December 11, 2013.
How popular is Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab?
Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab has achieved measurable traction, logging over 113,835 reviews and facilitating 5 recorded discussions or engagements.
Which technical categories define Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab?
Based on metadata extraction, Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab is categorized under topics such as: Reference, Lifestyle.
What are some commercial alternatives to Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab?
Our semantic intelligence engine identifies potential commercial alternatives in the SaaS space, such as Mintlify Autopilot, which offers overlapping value propositions.
How does the creator describe Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab?
The original author or development team describes the product as follows: "What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery.
Merlin helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike ..."
Community Voice & Feedback
I love this app! I can finally identify birds by their sound. I don’t see well so this is a boon! Thank you!
This app still does what it’s supposed to do; the problem is that it’s also trying to do more and more other things. Silliness like the “bird of the day”seems to be distracting the developers from less exciting stuff like, for example, stopping the the app from hanging and sometimes crashing when you switch regions, organize bird packs sensible, making the life list function useable, and so on. Nice effort and I retain hope, but the bloat is starting to weigh it down far too much.
I absolutely absolutely love this app. No complaints at all except I just did the update and now when I go to identify and record the bird identifier it’s not capturing very many at all.
I love this app. It’s great for people who love birds and would like to bird in the most casual ways possible.
Easy to use. Now I’m obsessed with adding to my life list wherever I go.
I love this app, but with the recent update July 2026, it has stopped working. I am on iOS 26.6, it will NOT record any sounds. Keeps saying needs access to microphone, but there is no way to allow microphone access now. Please update again. Thank you.
I love this app but lately it’s been signing me out every time and making me activate my account again when I already have one so now I can’t save my birds. PLEASE FIX IT
I use this app every day. Our family even has a game with points for who finds the bird of the day. In a world where things are a bit chaotic and unpredictable, watching and listening to birds gives us something positive to look forward to
I love all the great updates, including what season it is for the birds. But… I miss the cancel button. Now when I want to start a new recording I have to either close the app or stop and wait to be able to start a new listening session. I listen a lot, this needs to be easier. I usually lose the app and restart.
I love this app but the bird of the day stops my app from loading and i miss the sound i am trying to capture
I am pleased with how friendly the app is to new and aspiring birders and all the fun and interesting information for each bird around the world. However, it seems to lack a lot of useful information I would like for each bird. Specifically the size of the bird as it is hard to look for a bird not knowing the size of it, it would also help to see migratory and breeding seasons, not just the range. Overall extremely good app.
Doesn’t account for imitators like catbirds, doesn’t guess on low volume bird sounds, database biased byvareas with lots of birdwatchers and for visuals, is confused by immature birds. Finally hate the “security” requiring log in this isn’t a bank requiring security; it’s a hidden agenda
Absolutely love this app! I open it every day—often multiple times a day—to improve my birding skills, and they need a lot of improvement. Whether it’s identifying birds I hear around home, sometimes the same birds each morning until I feel confident about them, or discovering new species while traveling, it’s an invaluable resource.
The combination of Sound ID, Photo ID, and the step-by-step identification has greatly expanded the number of birds I can reasonably identify. I also love the variety of photos showing the variation between males, females, and juveniles, along with easy-to-find information on habitat, breeding, and migration. Information that used to require digging through field guides is now available in seconds. Highly recommended for beginners and experienced birders alike!
The combination of Sound ID, Photo ID, and the step-by-step identification has greatly expanded the number of birds I can reasonably identify. I also love the variety of photos showing the variation between males, females, and juveniles, along with easy-to-find information on habitat, breeding, and migration. Information that used to require digging through field guides is now available in seconds. Highly recommended for beginners and experienced birders alike!
Downloaded in summer 2026 and we listen every day. Especially fun for my 7 yr old who I am convinced is a budding ornithologist.
This app has motivated me to explore and go outside and I’m so thankful for that! Like pokemon go but realistic? lol
Discovery Source
Apple App Store Aggregated via automated community intelligence tracking.
Tech Stack Dependencies
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