Last week I shared my discovery of the Song Sleuth app for identifying birds by their song. I’ve had more fun playing with this tool, learning about the less obvious birds in my backyard. A reader mentioned that they use the Merlin app for this. I’d played with the app years ago when it first came out, but the Sound ID wasn’t part of it then.

This morning, when a cacophony of noise woke me at 4:30 AM, I tested it out – and I think I like this app best.

My first recording showed the Eastern Pheobe, Blue Jay, and Ovenbird were the culprits providing a continuous, loud, too-early wake-up call. Merlin Sound ID identifies birds as you record detecting all of the varied birds in one recording. It’s a two-step process with Song Sleuth that saves the identification of one bird per recording.

A little later in the morning, the Red-eyed Vireo and the Black-throated Green Warbler were the second act.

If you’ve been having fun with the bird-song identification, check out Merlin too!