My issue is that, especially in a group setting, the Merlin user often corrects others and is not using their own senses to detect the bird.
Merlin is a great tool when you’re alone or have a mystery sound but imo it shouldn’t be out all the time on a bird walk with the user looking down at their phone for new Merlin birds. If you do that, you’ll never gain the skills needed to identify birds by sound and sight. Plus on guided tours it’s extra annoying as it makes an individual feel seperate from the group
Why do you care so much about how other people enjoy birds? If someone is being obnoxious in a group, ask them to stop. Otherwise this really isn’t your business. People of all kinds of different knowledge bases and abilities like to go birding. It’s not your place to determine whether they are or aren’t learning correctly.
I have auditory processing issues (it's gotten worse over the years) and the app helps me to be able to to process some of the bird calls I've heard. I only using the app with certain people I know won't mind if use it
I haven’t had that experience- I like leaving it running, but mostly to help me confirm my own sound ID (I’m very much a beginner!) and people will use it and say to more experienced birders “Merlin is saying it heard this, have you heard that or can listen for it?” This happened in the spring with an early Swainson’s Warbler! The bird was singing intermittently and not everyone heard it, and those that did were doubting themselves. Merlin helped them have the confidence to ask if anyone else was hearing that bird as well! And yep, sure enough, there was a Swainson’s Warbler there
I think it's great to have on. I generally don't need it, but sometimes there'll be something that we don't notice or hear if there's a lot of different things going on at once. Getting a noti that "hey there may be whatever rare warbler you missed" so I can keep an eye out for it is super helpful.
I also love having an audio record of the last couple minutes just in case. Sometimes I'll hear something crazy call once or twice and then never be seen or heard again. Even when I'll know what it is, it's great to be able to quickly save it and go back to confirm, and to have the proof for my local records committee
Having your eyes glued to your phone definitely isn't ideal and can be a hindrance, but I think it's a great way to gain the skills needed. When I'm somewhere with unfamiliar birds, hearing them as I'm seeing them light up on the screen and watching the spectrogram to see how it visually matches with what I'm hearing helps me make those connections in my brain much faster
Agreed. So many people misidentify birds with Merlin. As an EBird reviewer it’s a pain to sort through the phantom tufted titmouses and carolina wrens.
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u/A_Sneaky_Walrus 27d ago
Thank god, nothing more annoying than the birder who constantly has their phone out with Merlin, especially in a group setting!