Merlin Bird ID

What hackers pick instead

• Seek by iNaturalistFree, casual app for identifying plants and animals from photos, good for kids. Critics say it shows a nature-disturbance prompt at every start.20recommend
• WildexGamified app that shares fun animal facts and awards points for finding rare species, which people like for getting kids outside. Critics object to ads and data tracking.8recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 53 comments. Each links to the original.

1. background noise will tend to lead to a lot more false positives, but you should use it as a guide rather than inherently trusting results

   Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

2. A problem I often have with Merlin is that the birds seem to know when I record them, and promptly stop singing

   Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “iNaturalist”

3. identifies the birds around me on walks. I can walk around and get mostly accurate identifications

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “I used to be excited about new tech, but I rarely am anymore”

4. Merlin got me into birding, and I've found this to be true, at least in some regions

   Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

5. I'm still impressed by Merlin's sound identification, it continues to inspire me.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Cornell's Interactive Wall of Birds”

6. I use Merlin Bird ID all the time. I found it good across many countries.

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

7. It's Pokemon for old people, I love it and use it at least once a day.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Cornell's Interactive Wall of Birds”

8. I use it at least once a week and have done so for several years.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Cornell's Interactive Wall of Birds”

9. Merlin can do sounds which is much much more useful for birds.

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline”

10. Use it on my walks every week and it spots some wild stuff

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Avian Visitors”

11. I use iNaturalist (and Merlin for birdsong recognition).

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't”

12. Thanks to Merlin Bird ID, I've got rather into birds

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Who's the Smartest Corvid?”

13. got me into birding (and using Merlin) this year

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

14. Merlin app will identify birds from birdsong

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Blatant AI slop just won a 25k USD DeepMind Kaggle Grand Prize”

15. is so good that I got some people interested

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

16. I just tried it and it worked like magic.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Cornell's Interactive Wall of Birds”

17. No comparison when it comes to sound.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline”

18. the result is tremendously useful

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

19. Merlin is solving the more general problem so makes sense that it's much more finicky and less accurate.

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

20. Merlin requires the bird to be within a couple of meters of me and sing for quite a while

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

21. Merlin's sound ID feature produces a lot of false positives.

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “I turned my security cameras into an automatic bird identification system”

22. I'm a big fan of Merlin and learning more about its development changed my perspective on software development!

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “iNaturalist”

23. I have found great value in assistive tools Merlin and Seek/iNaturalist for bird and plant identification.

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't”

24. Merlin, ebird, rock identifier, and inaturalist are some of the great apps to use while out in nature.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “iNaturalist”

25. Merlin is great for identifying birds, but I could never understand how to just post the information

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “iNaturalist”

26. It's excellent, and basically runs against a regional machine learning model to identify birds.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Do birds have accents? the regional differences in birdsong”

27. Now, when I go deer hunting I turn on the Merlin Bird ID app and try to find what it's hearing.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline”

28. it was especially amazing in a place where I can place way fewer of the vocalizations

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline”

29. So many people are just running Merlin, and dumping whatever it picks up to eBird.

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Why I Left iNaturalist”

30. The Merlin App[0] created by Cornell works wonderfully for tracking bird calls.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “A tiny microphone and site to track birds outside your window”

31. I flashed my Asus router with Merlin. I'd do the same for my next router.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?”

32. Merlin doesn't seem to ever false-positive on chipmunks or squirrels

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: An e-ink frame that hears birds and draws them as 1800s illustrations”

33. it just worked for me and didn't break when I upgraded packages

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Neocaml – Rubocop Creator's New OCaml Mode for Emacs”

34. Just your eyes and Merlin if you're cool with using your phone

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Birdwatching rewires the brain and slows cognitive decline”

35. Cornell'd Merlin Bird ID and eBird are real life pokemon go!

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Show HN: Wildex – we built Pokémon Go for real wildlife”

36. I love Merlin but never knew how they got it to be so good.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “iNaturalist”

37. I also liked his role in the Merlin TV two part movies

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Sam Neill has died”

38. Use the excellent eBird and Merlin apps instead.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Show HN: Wildex – we built Pokémon Go for real wildlife”

39. The Merlin bird ID app is eye-opening

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Travel Locally, Where You Are”

40. Their Merlin app is pretty fantastic.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Cornell's Interactive Wall of Birds”