Stepping outside in the early morning, the world around me is quiet and serene. The stillness is broken only by the chorus of birdsong. This daily concert is a gentle reminder of nature’s rhythms and the rich tapestry of wildlife that surrounds me.

The variety of bird calls here is amazing. I can’t tell one from another. To satisfy my curiosity, I discovered the Merlin Bird ID app developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This free app is like having a personal birding assistant in my pocket. It listens to the birds around me and provides real-time suggestions for who’s singing. It can identify over 1,300 species across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and parts of Asia and Latin America.

Using Merlin is simple: open the app, tap “Sound ID,” and let your phone listen. As birds sing, their names appear on the screen, accompanied by photos and sample recordings.

This is a screenshot from the app on my phone from May 13th. The top gray area shows the real-time recording of the singing, and the pictures and names of the birds populate the area below as they are identified.

For anyone looking to enhance their appreciation of nature’s soundtrack, the Merlin Bird ID is an invaluable tool. I found it on Google Playstore, and it’s a free app.

To see Merlin Bird ID in action, check out this demonstration:

Merlin Bird ID Demo from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

I am not associated with this app in any way. I just think it’s a fun app and thought I’d share it with you!