Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab

Cornell University · 4.8 ★ · FREE

Screenshots

Description

What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery.

Merlin Bird ID helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos.

Merlin offers four fun ways to identify birds. Answer a few simple questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore birds in a region.

Whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird you can find, the answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

WHY YOU’LL LOVE MERLIN
• Expert ID tips, range maps, photos, and sounds help you learn about the birds you spot and build birding skills.
• Discover a new bird species each day with your own personalized Bird of the Day
• Get customized lists of birds you can find where you live or travel - anywhere in the world!
• Keep track of your sightings—build your personal list of the birds you find

MACHINE LEARNING MAGIC
• Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Sound ID and Photo ID uses machine learning to identify birds in photos and sounds. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of millions of photos and sounds collected by birders at eBird.org, archived in the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• Merlin delivers the most accurate results thanks to experienced birders, who curate and annotate sightings, photos, and sounds, who are the true magic behind Merlin.

AMAZING CONTENT
• Merlin has bird photos, songs, and calls, and identification help for anywhere in the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, and more.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s mission is to interpret and conserve the Earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds and nature. We are able to offer Merlin for free thanks to the generosity of Cornell Lab members, supporters, and citizen-science contributors.

Developer

What's New

Version 3.9 · 23 May 2026

What’s new in 3.9: Observation Deck: Your Merlin home screen now features a swipeable daily feed showcasing Bird of the Day, stunning featured photos, and bite-sized bird tips! Each contains a full-screen view for photos and videos, plus a "Learn more" button to dive deeper into species accounts or related content. Habitat Photos: Discover where birds live with our new carousel of habitat photos curated for a subset of species, making it easier than ever to find the birds near you or further afield! New language support for Kyrgyz and Welsh. Improvements and new species added to Photo ID. Bug fixes and improvements.

Ratings & Reviews

4.8

9,452 ratings

Recent Reviews

Garfage

v3.9

The greatest thing the Internet has ever given us

Makes you feel like St Francis of Assisi. Just. Amazing.

31 May 2026

Moonraker Me

v3.6.1

Brilliant

Love to listen to the birdsong of an evening. This app helps me identify what I am listening to and find out more about the birds themselves. Fab.

29 May 2026

JMDavies

v3.9

A Great App, but…

This is undoubtedly a great app and has revolutionised my bird watching. HOWEVER, it often takes an eternity (30 seconds?) to download the geographical position from phone (my phone always knows where it is!), by which time you have missed the bird that you asked it to recognise the song of. Also, I have a suggestion for an upgrade: it should be possible with most smartphones to get a phase difference between microphones at either end of the phone to get an approximate direction (eg: to the nearest compass octant - like a radar warning receiver).

29 May 2026

RiHa007

v3.9

My favourite app - ever!

Merlin has been a game changer for me. It has introduced me to a brilliant new hobby, made every walk an adventure and helped me to learn so much about the birds around me. The kids love it too, and get very excited when we add another species to our life list! Honestly can’t believe an app this good is free.

29 May 2026

437fhjj1578stc

v3.9

Amazing App

This a gloriously fun, easy to use app

27 May 2026

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