I’ve had some false positives with Merlin too, and hearing in my right ear isn’t what it used to be; however, my main problem is that Merlin checks out at times and doesn’t pick up any birds or just some at other times. I’ve seen this often on bird walks with multiple people whose Merlin picks up birds while mine is on vacation. I’ve deleted the app and then reinstalled which seems to help for a while. It is almost like it knows there are other birders on Merlin in the same area and doesn’t put the effort on all iPhones. Any suggestions?
Harriett Pooler
Baton Rouge
> On Apr 17, 2026, at 5:14 PM, Paul Conover via groups.io <zoiseaux...> wrote:
>
> Van, LABird,
>
> Because my hearing is schizo (profound loss of highs, above
> average lows), I use Merlin at times to see if calling high-pitched
> species like Cedar Waxwings are present, but I often notice that Merlin
> has issues with distant doves and owls.
>
> So, I take Merlinisms with a grain of salt, both in the field and
> when looking at checklists. I've noticed many of the same false positive
> species as Van, which makes me wonder if isolated reports of some of
> those species at well-birded locales are Merlin-heard-only but not noted
> as such. My advice would be that birders indicate that fact on their lists.
>
> Paul Conover
>
> Lafayette
>
>
>> On 4/16/26 12:14 PM, Van Remsen via groups.io wrote:
>> LABIRD: Most people in this venue have heard multiple times that MERLIN frequently makes mistakes and should never be relied on as the sole evidence for an eBird entry. Merlin's own directions emphasize this. Yet many eBirder seem unaware of this and treat Merlin hits as sufficient evidence for presence.
>>
>> Yesterday provided a poignant example. A single Summer Tanager singing was identified as 3 separate species: Am. Robin, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Summer Tanager. Yes, the same individual bird. Yeah, the songs are kind of similar but not THAT similar.
>>
>> As I have mentioned previously, I did 30 trials of 30 minutes at my place in St. Gabriel and NOT ONE was without 1 to 5 obvious or highly suspicious false positives. Since then, I've done dozens of unofficial trials with the same outcome. You would think just by chance I'd have a "clean" trial every so often. The most frequent local false positives are Red-eyed Vireo, House Sparrow, E. Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, Y-b Chat, Am. Robin, and Rock Pigeon. On the other hand, Merlin often misses Fish Crow, Y-b Cuckoo, Mourning Dove, Barred Owl, and Screech Owl if they are more than couple hundred yards away, and misses Brown Thrasher "Chack" calls even at close range.
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>> Van Remsen
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