Date: 5/12/26 3:02 pm From: Carol Riddell via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Merlin Sound ID Mix Ups
I’m not surprised to hear that Merlin confused Orca vocalizations with Peregrine Falcon (PEFA). This falcon has become quite rare in Edmonds in the last few years but Merlin identifies it as a suggested bird quite frequently. It always pays to save the recording and play it back to confirm that species. Most of the time it is a screeching sound from a car or some other human noise artifact that causes it to suggest PEFA. I had wondered what Merlin was confusing Black Scoter with. I haven’t heard it in an inappropriate location for a couple of years. It used to come up regularly on Sound ID in Yost Park. Yost is a forested park, a mix of conifer and deciduous trees surrounding a ravine through which Shell Creek runs. That one always puzzled me but maybe a confusion with House Finch explains it. Sound ID is a great tool, as long as we remember to confirm or reject odd calls, but it is often good for a laugh.
