Merlin Sound ID: identify the birds you hear and check a doubtful suggestion

Merlin Sound ID can suggest which birds you’re hearing. The free Merlin app is available for Android and iOS phones and tablets, but its suggestions need independent confirmation. Merlin Bird ID · Sound ID guide

Record the sound

Open Sound ID from Merlin’s main menu and tap Record. Aim for at least 30 seconds. Keep the microphone clear, stay quiet and still, and avoid disturbing the birds. Tap the red Stop button when you’re done. Tap Save if you want to revisit the recording under Sound ID Sessions. Sound ID guide · Sound ID best practices

Check the moment behind each suggestion

Tap a suggestion to see and hear the matching segment of the spectrogram. Compare that sound with Merlin’s example calls, then check Details for range, behavior, and habitat. Explore Birds has seasonal bar charts to help check whether that species is likely at that time of year. Seeing the bird, when possible, gives you another way to confirm the suggestion. Sound ID best practices

Choose the right reference sound

A bird’s song and its short calls can sound quite different. Cornell’s species pages separate recordings by vocalization, which gives you a more useful comparison than choosing the first sound under the bird’s name.

Suggested species	Cornell’s documented cues	Which reference to compare first
Northern Cardinal	Songs are clear whistle sequences typically lasting 2 to 3 seconds. A common call is a short metallic chip.	Use a Song recording for a whistle phrase and a Calls recording for a brief chip.
Black-capped Chickadee	Across much of North America, the song has 2 or 3 whistled notes; the familiar chickadee-dee-dee sound is a call. Pacific Northwest songs can have 3 or 4 notes on one pitch.	Compare a short whistle with Song, even if it does not sound like the bird’s name. Use Calls for the dee-note pattern.

Open the relevant species link, find the labeled Song or Calls example, and compare it with the moment Merlin matched in your recording. For a Black-capped Chickadee suggestion in the Pacific Northwest, the regional song description is a reason to compare more than one Song example before rejecting it. The cues above help you pick a reference; they do not confirm a species by themselves. Check its range and your actual location too.

If a match is missing or doubtful

An empty suggestion list can reflect a poor recording or a species Sound ID does not support. Its coverage includes most species in the US, Canada, and Europe, plus common species in India and Central and South America; it does not cover every bird worldwide. Sound ID guide

Sound ID works offline without bird packs. My Offline Birds in Settings adds regional photos, information, and sample calls for offline comparison; downloading extra sounds does not expand Sound ID’s detection. Accurate location services help offline. If a recording has an unknown location, you can edit it later while online through the upper-right edit control and Change Location. Do not report an unverified or location-unknown match to eBird. Merlin bird packs · Sound ID best practices

Source note: Cornell’s linked instructions were checked October 16, 2026 KST. The species cues come from Cornell’s written descriptions; no reference-audio playback, phone recording or app trial was performed.