Merlin Bird ID

[FLATTOP 4,416]

Had a good haul today 14 different species I went over to this place in the link below I would normally walk for miles over there but serious thunderstorms this was just hanging the app out of the car I reckon I could have got a lot more if I went for a wander, It’s such a good app.

Wallasea Island Nature Reserve, Essex - The RSPB

WWW.RSPB.ORG.UK

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Corn Bunting

Eurasian Linnet

Black Headed Gull

Eurasian Skylark

Common Sandpiper 

House Sparrow

Common Cuckoo

Eurasian Oystercatcher 

Common Wood Pigeon 

Reed Bunting

Eurasian Collared Dove

Eurasian Black Bird

European Goldfinch 

Eurasian Blue Tit

 

[Neal 1,862]

I'm still taking mine with a pinch of salt. 

As I said before, it's great for letting me know what MIGHT be there so that I can check it but I certainly wouldn't trust it as a way of recording a definitive list of species in a particular area.

Two examples:

Last Sunday it repeatedly picked up a redstart. I must admit I didn't have my binoculars with me, but I couldn't see one anywhere. At the time it was also picking up several other species. As I was doing a circular route, and it was the entry point to that particular piece of woodland, I decided to switch the app back on as I approached the same spot. Fortunately there was only one pair of birds calling at the time and it immediately came up with redstart again. As the two birds called to each other from either side of the path the name was repeatedly re-hi-lighted (is that a word?). I still couldn't make them out in much detail but they looked more like a yellow/green warbler than a redstart. All of a sudden the app momentarily added willow warbler (while only one of the two 'redstarts' was calling) but didn't hi-light it again. I finally got a decent view of them and I'd say they were definitely warblers. On playing back some of the prerecorded calls on the app I discovered that two calls of the two species are very similar but one is slightly faster (can't remember which way round). I have to admit that my two willow warblers did genuinely sound more like the recording of the redstart though, so that mistake is understandable. At one point they even seemed to reply to my redstart call on the app!

The other example(s) all seem to stem from blackbirds. Now sometimes they do the typical "oh, that's a blackbird" song but several are obviously more into free jazz (with a bit of scat thrown in). As a result I've picked up golden oriole, rose necked parakeet, oystercatcher and several other species which were definitely not in the area while a blackbird was going freelance.

[Daniel cain 45,154]

Common Raven,song thrush,willow warbler and Eurasian blackbird  today

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Just downloaded it .See what’s about .

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

23 minutes ago, foxdropper said:

Just downloaded it .See what’s about .

I would take it with a pinch of salt.

 

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

9 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER said:

I would take it with a pinch of salt.

 

Mine picks up big cat calls too mate .Off to Gloucester the weekend see what the fuss is about .

[tatsblisters 9,542]

I am out at six every morning and the bird song seems to have dropped off this morning I picked a wren and a blackbird up but I could clearly hear a magpie in the distance that the app did not pick up. 

[EDDIE B 3,162]

Mine's still picking up mallard. Think its the feckin dogs pantings

[bell 3,591]

10 hours ago, Neal said:

I'm still taking mine with a pinch of salt. 

As I said before, it's great for letting me know what MIGHT be there so that I can check it but I certainly wouldn't trust it as a way of recording a definitive list of species in a particular area.

Two examples:

Last Sunday it repeatedly picked up a redstart. I must admit I didn't have my binoculars with me, but I couldn't see one anywhere. At the time it was also picking up several other species. As I was doing a circular route, and it was the entry point to that particular piece of woodland, I decided to switch the app back on as I approached the same spot. Fortunately there was only one pair of birds calling at the time and it immediately came up with redstart again. As the two birds called to each other from either side of the path the name was repeatedly re-hi-lighted (is that a word?). I still couldn't make them out in much detail but they looked more like a yellow/green warbler than a redstart. All of a sudden the app momentarily added willow warbler (while only one of the two 'redstarts' was calling) but didn't hi-light it again. I finally got a decent view of them and I'd say they were definitely warblers. On playing back some of the prerecorded calls on the app I discovered that two calls of the two species are very similar but one is slightly faster (can't remember which way round). I have to admit that my two willow warblers did genuinely sound more like the recording of the redstart though, so that mistake is understandable. At one point they even seemed to reply to my redstart call on the app!

The other example(s) all seem to stem from blackbirds. Now sometimes they do the typical "oh, that's a blackbird" song but several are obviously more into free jazz (with a bit of scat thrown in). As a result I've picked up golden oriole, rose necked parakeet, oystercatcher and several other species which were definitely not in the area while a blackbird was going freelance.

Redstart is the zeeping noise a chaffinch occasionally makes. Mine wrongly ids it. 

[Neal 1,862]

13 hours ago, bell said:

Redstart is the zeeping noise a chaffinch occasionally makes. Mine wrongly ids it. 

 

15 hours ago, EDDIE B said:

Mine's still picking up mallard. Think its the feckin dogs pantings

These are the kind of things I'm getting too. I'm certainly not saying it's rubbish: I think it's an amazing app and (as others have said) I'd probably pay for it if it wasn't free, but I think it could be a case of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" for those with little previous knowledge of birds.

Eddie; re your mallard...mine picked up a woodcock in my local wood early one morning. Now I'm not saying there are no woodcock in this wood (it's the kind of habitat you'd expect to find them) but I've got dogs which regularly raise both woodcock locally and snipe (or jack snipe?) on Dartmoor, and I've never found one in this wood after living here for seventeen years and walking in it at leads twice every day. My only thought was that I was wearing new boots and the tongue was squeaking against the outer layer of leather. 

[Neal 1,862]

That's it! I give up!

Last Sunday...booted eagle in the local wood.

[forest of dean redneck 11,564]

I deleted mine as swear it was draining my battery even not in use ?? 

[Neal 1,862]

On 08/07/2023 at 10:44, Neal said:

That's it! I give up!

Last Sunday...booted eagle in the local wood.

This morning, just as I was leaving the wood, I could hear several crows heckling something. By the time I reached the road the noise had become louder and was suddenly joined by a distressed blood-curdling scream. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a huge bird (mobbed by crows) taking off from the trees on the very edge of the wood. For a fraction of a second I thought 'bloody hell! the app was right! an escaped booted eagle has been living in the woods!' But then I realised what it was...a heron. They always look so much bigger up close. It flew off with two crows in pursuit and one came back about thirty seconds later with several feathers missing. 

[Neal 1,862]

On 08/07/2023 at 12:15, forest of dean redneck said:

I deleted mine as swear it was draining my battery even not in use ?? 

I'm finding that too.

[forest of dean redneck 11,564]

1 hour ago, Neal said:

I'm finding that too.

I’m glad it’s not just me thought I was cracking up