Cornell releases free Android app just in time for fall migration

Ithaca, NY-What's that bird? Just ask Merlin, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's free bird ID app, now available for Android devices. Like magic, Merlin presents you with a list of the birds that best match your location, time of year, and description of the bird. Unlike magic, however, Merlin's uncanny ability to help you identify birds is based on science.

"Merlin knows which birds are most likely to be within a 30-mile radius of where you saw the bird-at the time when you saw it," said Jessie Barry at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "It's the first app to tap into 70 million observations contributed by birders to the eBird citizen-science project, along with 3 million descriptors of birds to help match what you saw."

The popular iPhone version of the app, released in January 2014, has been downloaded more than 230,000 times and has helped people identify more than 700,000 birds. The app includes more than 1,000 bird sounds, 2,000 images, ID tips, and range maps for North America's 400 most commonly encountered bird species.

Barry said the app was designed with beginners in mind so it's fun and easy to use, with no previous bird watching experience required.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and partner Birds in the Hand, LLC, created Merlin with support from the National Science Foundation, Pennington® Wild Bird Food, Faucett Catalyst Fund, and friends and members of the Cornell Lab. The Cornell Lab is a nonprofit organization with the mission to improve the understanding and protection of birds.

Download the free app at bit.ly/downloadmerlin or look for it in Google Play or the App Store.

Note to media: An embeddable video about Merlin is available at www.birds.cornell.edu/merlin