Sunday, July 21, 2024

Merlin

The Merlin app has become popular in our family, and sees quite a bit of use. It isn't infalible--on one outing a woman a hundred yards away shouted for her daughter to come back, and Merlin promptly said it heard a trumpeter swan.

We were in Door County, and my eldest wondered if Merlin could be fooled by mimics. Within the minute, a strange call was identified as a ruffed grouse. There was nothing in that tree but bluejays. Quick answer(*).

FWIW, the dawn chorus isn't all the birds all at once. They have their entrances and their exits, as it were. First up were the cardinals; though I'm not sure why. Maybe they roost higher in the trees (they like thick bushes and tall trees), in line with the suggestion that the higher birds see the sun first.

(*) FWIW, we had a bluejay land on the birdbath on the back deck, and give a redtail hawk call--presumably to ensure privacy.

2 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I love Merlin and usually just take it a face value.

Probably because I don't care THAT much that I want to worry about it.

james said...

It has almost always been right, though with distant birds we wonder. I can't fault it for falling for a mimic.