Merlin Bird ID

[FLATTOP 4,416]

I had a really interesting evening caught all these birds in the app also a common nighthawk never had one of them before and a rare according to the app common firecrest, also see a green woodpecker the place was also heaving with pheasant.

I also got a video of a cub pouncing on a rabbit I had just shot and giving it a ragging, it was a nice little situation I was watching the cub through my scope with no intention of shooting it and then all of a sudden a rabbit filled the lens so I shot the rabbit and amazingly the cub just pounced on it, shame I can’t put the video up as it’s not as easy as pictures but a good evening to be out and about.

Edited May 25 by FLATTOP

[tatsblisters 9,542]

Put mine on the other week mooching around local woods and was glad the bullfinch came up though I could ear a cock pheasant a distance away and the app never picked it up. 

[Neal 1,862]

Despite the reservations mentioned earlier in the thread, I still regularly use mine. It's helped me to get a lot better at recognizing different calls. I find it particularly helpful with LBJs when you can see something flitting about but can't make out the details.

[tatsblisters 9,542]

20 hours ago, Neal said:

Despite the reservations mentioned earlier in the thread, I still regularly use mine. It's helped me to get a lot better at recognizing different calls. I find it particularly helpful with LBJs when you can see something flitting about but can't make out the details.

Same here mate and I recently picked a goldcrest up on the app a bird call I would have never recognised are known without the app. The only downside for me with the app is I can clearly hear certain bird noises a distance away like crow's cawing or a cock pheasant and the app never seems to pick them up. I have often wondered if it was the quality of my phone wich is a Samsung s22 plus or the app needs updating. 

[Daniel cain 45,154]

[Greyman 28,284]

Interestingly some time ago on a thread about swallows I mentioned a situation I have observed living on the water that sparrow hawks become adapt at catching swallows and in the week the swallows and martins arrived I noticed an increase in sparrow hawk activity and my daughter caught two on her app have seen one in flight carrying a swallow already the first time I saw it was fishing and assumed it was a flood but since moving onto water it is clear that is is a skill that they learn and quite a regular occurrence as I have now witnessed it every spring 

[Greyman 28,284]

On 23/05/2024 at 21:43, FLATTOP said:

I had a really interesting evening caught all these birds in the app also a common Knighthawk never had one of them before and a rare according to the app common firecrest, also see a green woodpecker the place was also heaving with pheasant.

I also got a video of a cub pouncing on a rabbit I had just shot and giving it a ragging, it was a nice little situation I was watching the cub through my scope with no intention of shooting it and then all of a sudden a rabbit filled the lens so I shot the rabbit and amazingly the cub just pounced on it, shame I can’t put the video up as it’s not as easy as pictures but a good evening to be out and about.

Thought a nighthawk was someone that goes metal detecting in naughty places after dark, would have thought they were silent lol

[Neal 1,862]

4 hours ago, tatsblisters said:

Same here mate and I recently picked a goldcrest up on the app a bird call I would have never recognised are known without the app. The only downside for me with the app is I can clearly hear certain bird noises a distance away like crow's cawing or a cock pheasant and the app never seems to pick them up. I have often wondered if it was the quality of my phone wich is a Samsung s22 plus or the app needs updating. 

No, I get exactly the same. Sometimes I've played back ones I've failed to delete and I can hear myself in the background saying, 'and a pheasant...come on...can't you hear the pheasant?'

I'm a lot less polite to Alexa!

I always thought seeing a gold or firecrest was a red letter day, but I now know I'm hearing both species every day.

[Greyman 28,284]

8 minutes ago, Neal said:

No, I get exactly the same. Sometimes I've played back ones I've failed to delete and I can hear myself in the background saying, 'and a pheasant...come on...can't you hear the pheasant?'

I'm a lot less polite to Alexa!

I always thought seeing a gold or firecrest was a red letter day, but I now know I'm hearing both species every day.

Chiffchaffs are another one that are everywhere but seldom noticed 

[FLATTOP 4,416]

5 hours ago, Greyman said:

Thought a nighthawk was someone that goes metal detecting in naughty places after dark, would have thought they were silent lol

To be honest I’d never even heard of a common nighthawk a night jar yes but not the hawk just shows what an informative app it is, and as for the after dark night hawks we’ve all been there at some time or another lol…. 

[Greyman 28,284]

23 minutes ago, FLATTOP said:

To be honest I’d never even heard of a common nighthawk a night jar yes but not the hawk just shows what an informative app it is, and as for the after dark night hawks we’ve all been there at some time or another lol…. 

I had to google it myself looks like the same family as our nightjar but bigger 

[tatsblisters 9,542]

Would it be more than likely be a nightjar that the app picked up. I remember years ago night fishing a trout pond nr Bawtry and seeing them flitting over the pond through the night. Finding one of their nests must be a great find. I also remember vaguely reading in one of Jim Corbetts books were he was hunting a man eating tiger and he found nightjar eggs and took them for his egg collection and then later putting them back after he had shot the tiger at close range with one hand as the eggs were in the other and claiming if both hands had been free the split seconds to bring the gun up to his shoulder the tiger would have nailed him.