Date: 8/17/25 8:06 pm From: Lee Simpson <0000013640a8a13a-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: osprey or red tail
As always both viewpoints have merit. When I started birding seriously many decades ago, I birded largely by ear, usually looking at the ground so I didn't trip as I walked, and looking up to find the birds when I heard them. Now 73, I have had to learn to bird differently. I now am birding more by eye, but also letting Merlin tell me what birds are (likely) around. I have been wearing hearing aids since I was about 65 (sorry to hear that you, Scott W - no pun intended- are now wearing them) But hearing aids do not restore hearing to what it was. The sounds are different- quite different in my experience- although my hearing loss is not just the normal high mHz songs/calls. So I am using Merlin to help me relearn the songs of familiar birds and give me a poss ID on those I don't know, such as western birds. I never add a bird to an ebird list just because Merlin hears it; I have to either hear a song that I already know and recognize and/or see the bird. And anyone else who lists birds in ebird just based on Merlin is damaging the valuable citizen science that ebird allows
Yes- Merlin makes mistakes- don't we all? But it is a lot of fun to use for older birders, for new birders, and for folks birding in unfamiliar territory. There have always been serious birders who learn the songs and bird by ear, and others who just like to see the birds who come to their feeders or whatever.
And I hope that those of us to use Merlin will think about sending them a donation, because the undertaking and the value are both enormous Lee Simpson, N. Berks Co
On Thursday, August 14, 2025 at 02:59:20 PM EDT, Russ Ruffing <russruffing...> wrote:
Except in my opinion, Merlin doesn’t really teach people anything. It
creates a crutch, and birders learn to not trust their ear, nor does it
encourage them to actually track down the vocalizer and “put eyes to their
ears,” which helps to hardwire the ID in one’s brain.
I routinely see birders with their phone strapped to their wrist and
running Merlin continuously (using an external charger they’ve hooked up to
the phone) and they spend their entire time out in the field looking at
their phone. This is not birding.
On Thu, Aug 14, 2025 at 2:29 PM SCOTT WEIDENSAUL <
<000001343b2dd726-dmarc-request...> wrote:
> The lesson is that while Merlin is good, it’s not perfect, and sometimes
> seeing is believing. I find it struggled if there’s background noise, or
> unusually short vocalizations.
>
> And sometimes birds don’t make the sounds they’re “supposed” to make. This
> spring, for example, my wife and I encountered a male dark-eyed junco
> singing his heart out on a ridgetop in the While Mountains — but instead of
> the typical long, melodic trill, it ended each time with a jumble of notes
> unlike any junco song I’ve ever heard. Merlin kept saying, “Hearing a
> Bird,” but never gave an ID, presumably because it didn’t match anything
> its machine learning had encountered. Merlin’s also known to struggle with
> distinguishing red-eyed and Philadelphia vireo, which is perhaps
> understandable, since those two species will respond to the other’s (almost
> identical) songs.
>
> Still, the app is pretty amazing. For those of us of a certain age, who
> grew up when learning bird songs with technology meant listening to a 33
> rpm record on a turntable, it’s simply astounding.
>
> Scott Weidensaul
> Milton NH (formerly Schuylkill Co.)
>
>
> > On Aug 14, 2025, at 2:16 PM, <ceceliahard...> <
> <000001ea2b4afe88-dmarc-request...> wrote:
> >
> > Merlin sound ID keeps suggesting it hears osprey when I only see red
> tailed hawk. Today I was walking by the Allegheny River and heard what I
> thought was a red tailed hawk and saw an adult perched on a sign on the
> Highland Park bridge. I saw another bird about 100 yards away and could see
> it vocalizing (I think).
> >
> > Merlin cycled between osprey and red tail ID and even added in Bald
> eagle at one point. I couldn't clearly see the calling bird clearly, but
> it seemed to be a juvenile red tail. I was not far downriver from the
> osprey nest that fledged a young bird this spring. I appreciate comments.
> >
> > Cecelia Hard
> > Allegheny County
>
