[Tweeters] Merlin Complaints Backfire ! Badly.

[Kevin Lucas via Tweeters]

Robert et al,

Perhaps that's why Merlin did not identify the Black Phoebe I was watching
and photographing and videoing while Merlin sound recording a few weeks
ago. I could see the Black Phoebe's vocalization in/on the sonogram in
real-time, and hear the vocalization well when I later played back my
Merlin sound recordings. I was baffled.

Recently, while browsing Merlin in the field, I often see "Not in Yakima
today" with Merlin's account for a bird that I'm watching and listening to.
It seems a poorly chosen phrase, especially when Merlin has just correctly
identified the vocalization from that species.

I find Merlin great for bringing my attention to birds whose calls aren't
registering in my noggin. I find some of its mistakes frustrating -- often
not recognizing a loudly calling Pacific Wren that I'm watching, others,
like it identifying a squirrel as a Steller's Jay funny, and some mistakes,
like those of Starling vocalizations being misidentified as Red-tailed
Hawk, American Kestrel, Western Wood-Pewee,..., quite understandable.

Sometimes, when Merlin ID's a species that I'm pretty sure is not present,
I enter a zero for quantity for that species on my checklist, and enter in
the comments that Merlin identified it and I think it was not present.
Maybe adding some sort of special 'Merlin only' checkbox to eBird app's
checklist entries is in order?

Good Birding,
https://www.aba.org/aba-code-of-birding-ethics/
Kevin Lucas
Yakima County, Washington

*Qui tacet consentire videtur*


On Mon, Feb 2, 2026 at 1:04 AM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> For quite a while, there have been complaints that some bird calls/songs

> are reported as birds that 'cannot possibly be present'.by Merlin.  Merlin

> is often held up to scorn.

> But what if the bird IS ACTUALLY present, as a vagrant.  For instance

> rare eastern warblers breeding/singing in coastal SW Oregon n (Think Tim

> Rodenkirk)

>

> I just made the terrible mistake of updating Merlin to the current

> version.  *So very sad.*

> With this version, if Merlin (in its infinite wisdom). decides that* 'it

> can't be present'*  then Merlin simply ignores it.

> That could be good for inexperienced birders who would be confused by a

> bad id.  But, would IGNORING IT really help?

> But for experienced birders, that means vagrants are out of bounds for

> Merlin.  Either location or seasonal wise.

>

> For instance, the wonderful ID of a White-eyed Vireo along the Tillamook

> coast.  As I recall a very creative birder heard that call while driving;

> didn't recognize it, backed up;,recorded it, reported to OBOL and OBRC, and

> it became an accepted record.  White-eyed Vireo. Had she done that with the

> new version.  Identifying it from Merlin would not have been possible. The

> call would simply pass by in the sonogram with no reaction.  And very

> likely never reported.  So (currently) sad.

>

> *WEVI-2022-02

> <https://oregonbirding.org/wp-content/uploads/OBRCphotos/WEVI-2022-02web.wav>

> (A2)        Nehalem Bay State Park parking lot, Tillamook Co., 26 June

> 2022. Report and audio files BH.   Second state record*

>

> *This OBRC report does not do it justice for how outstanding and creative

> this 2nd Oregon Record was.  *

>

> There are other resources for ID when Merlin cops out, but all of them are

> difficult to use.

>

> So, my advice (to everyone) DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE CURRENT VERSION.  If you

> get a surprising ID, figure it out.  Real or not.,

> Just sayin'  But, as always, it's your choice.

>

> Bob OBrien   Carver OR

>

> P.S. It took me hours to figure this all out.  And I checked it just now

> by playing an On-line White eyed vireo song and recording it (both on my

> phone, at my home location  Merlin reported 'No Suggestions'.  So very

> sad.  Merlin is a fantastic resource, so powerful, and hopefully it will

> one day be.  But for now, it seems to be floundering around in the UI (user

> interface) and the concepts.

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