The problem I am seeing with the use of Merlin by those who have lost their
hearing, and by novice birders, is that they are using it with a surety
that the birds Merlin says it’s hearing are actually there.
I’m an old-school birder having learned bird calls by actually hearing them
and chasing down the birds, or going home and trying to find the calls on
cds. Y’all remember those? There was no stick a device up in the air and
it’ll tell you what it hears.
Back in the day we also had to use a field guide that had words in them
that kind of read like what a bird sounded like. And there was info on
where to find birds, and how they migrated, and all the different plumages
were shown. There was so much to learn. Does Merlin do all that? And do we
really want to learn, to actually retain the bird song? Or do we just want
an instant answer, which is the way the world is trending in every aspect.
Just some of my thoughts.
And a thought on formal birding field trips. How difficult it has become to
lead a trip only to have five phones at the same time record calls and five
people at the same time are calling out different bird names. And none of
the birds are being seen. I would suggest that leaders ask groups to either
not use Merlin, or to have one person use it. Again…just some of my
thoughts.
Sandy
Fort Smith
On Tue, Jul 8, 2025 at 3:13 PM Gmail <butchchq8...> wrote:
> Joe,
>
> I've organized a monthly backyard bird count for the residents of Bella
> Vista for the past six years. About two years ago, I added a Merlin count
> for those that were interested in participating. Over time, we'll compare
> the personal ID's with the Merlin ID's, but for now, I think it is really
> opening up the eyes of folks by opening up their ears, causing them to
> realize there are soooo many more birds out there than only come to
> feeders. This is especially so for novices and those whose hearing isn't
> quite what it used to be. Merlin has been a nice addition to the birders'
> arsenal.
>
> Butch
> Bella Vista
>
> On Jul 8, 2025, at 12:24, betty_evans <betty_evans...> wrote:
>
>
>
> https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/listening-with-merlin-bird-id-patterns/ >
> Here is the article.
>
> On Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at 10:30:59 AM CDT, Joseph Neal <
> <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> wrote:
>
>
> I’m always interested to hear how people use Cornell’s Merlin app. I
> compare these comments with my own experience. The current issue of
> Cornell’s Living Bird (summer 2025) has a really interesting essay by
> Andrew J. Lewis, “Listening, Belonging, and the Patterns we live by.” It is
> a very good read about his experience in using Merlin. I don’t have a link
> to the article, but if anyone knows how to get a link, please post it for
> others who don’t subscribe to the magazine.
>
>
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