It’s Here: Free Merlin Bird ID App Now Available for Android

Merlin Bird ID—now available for Android—is a revolutionary new app for identifying common birds of North America. Why is it revolutionary?

• It asks you five simple questions about the bird you saw and then gives you a short list of the most likely possibilities
• That short list is a smart list—Merlin uses data from our eBird project to tell you which birds are most likely to be seen near you, right now
• It’s loaded with tons of top-quality photos and sounds
• It’s free

We launched Merlin Bird ID in January 2014 for iOS7 devices and immediately started work on developing an Android version. The Android version is available for download in the Play store. Since it first launched, we’ve added thousands of species to Merlin (check out if your region is covered by selecting Bird Packs from the app’s main menu.) and added new features that will change how you learn about birds, including Photo ID, bar charts and audio spectrograms. And it’s still free.  Tap this link from your Android device to download the Android version. (Note: Merlin is not available for Kindle.)

iPhone and iPad Users: Merlin Bird ID is available for devices running iOS 8 or later, too. If you already have Merlin, just update the app on your device to get the new version. If you don’t have Merlin yet, tap this link from our iOS device to download the iOS version.

New to Merlin? This video tells you what it’s all about:

About Merlin Bird ID

(updated from the original launch post, January 2014)

• Available for all iOS7 and Android (OS4 and higher) devices. Not available for Kindle
• Built for beginning and intermediate bird watchers; also great for instructors and bird walk leaders
• Covers 400 species in North America (see which species)
• Accesses the eBird database to pull most likely species from your location and time of year
• Features more than 2,000 great photos, 1,000 audio recordings, and range maps from the Birds of the World
• Created in collaboration with Birds in the Hand, developers of the eBird BirdsEye and BirdLog apps
• Supported in part by the National Science Foundation, Pennington Wild Bird Food, and friends and members of the Cornell Lab.

Most important of all, Merlin Bird ID was built with input from real bird watchers who contributed their time to data-gathering exercises hosted here at All About Birds via our All About Birds Labs project, as well as birders who entered their sightings into eBird, providing the occurrence data that’s at the heart of Merlin’s magic. We’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you who participated.

Do you have questions about Merlin Bird ID? See our Merlin frequently asked questions.