For many years I’ve been saying that Cornell Lab of Ornithology ought to do a Shazam for birds app and they finally have. Seems they’ve folded into Merlin which is their bird ID app. I haven’t used it yet, but I downloaded it and hope to have some success identifying birds I can’t see, but only hear. Basically this is the way I encounter a lot of birds, and maybe by knowing certain birds are in certain areas I can set up the blind for some photo opps.
But that got me to wondering what other apps are out there and are good for nature ID and exploration. The popular one seems to be iNaturalist (I think that’s the one), but I haven’t tried it. Do any of you swear by certain apps?
I use myodfw. com (it’s the department of fish and wildlife for Oregon) they might have one for your state. It only has all the animals that are actually in your state and the bird part has their songs. And I also have Audubon app. Usually for me it has taken hearing birds a lot! And then finally one day seeing them and putting it all together to really know what I’m hearing in the forest when I do.
Thanks peeps. I probably should use Alltrails or somthing similar. The problem is coverage - there are a lot of dead spots here in Northern Wisconsin…and other areas out of population centers. Hm.
Since playing with the Merlin app, I’ve discovered we have red-eyed vireos and purple finches around - two I haven’t actually seen, but that sing a lot. The American redstart male I see as well as hear, but it’s nice to put the song and the bird together - key for being ready for any photo op.