What's that bird? Ask Merlin—the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, Merlin Bird ID will help you solve the mystery.
Merlin Bird ID helps you identify birds you see and hear. Merlin is unlike any other bird app—it's powered by eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, sounds, and photos.
Merlin offers four fun ways to identify birds. Answer a few simple questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore birds in a region.
Whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird you can find, the answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE MERLIN
• Expert ID tips, range maps, photos, and sounds help you learn about the birds you spot and build birding skills.
• Discover a new bird species each day with your own personalized Bird of the Day
• Get customized lists of birds you can find where you live or travel - anywhere in the world!
• Keep track of your sightings—build your personal list of the birds you find
MACHINE LEARNING MAGIC
• Powered by Visipedia, Merlin Sound ID and Photo ID uses machine learning to identify birds in photos and sounds. Merlin learns to recognize bird species based on training sets of millions of photos and sounds collected by birders at eBird.org, archived in the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• Merlin delivers the most accurate results thanks to experienced birders, who curate and annotate sightings, photos, and sounds, who are the true magic behind Merlin.
AMAZING CONTENT
• Merlin has bird photos, songs, and calls, and identification help for anywhere in the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, and more.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s mission is to interpret and conserve the Earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds and nature. We are able to offer Merlin for free thanks to the generosity of Cornell Lab members, supporters, and citizen-science contributors.
Each day I have a long walk with my dog along the river and only last week I wondered who is so beautifully singing on the trees. This app was the third one I tried and it is awesome! The app recorded the birds, on the go identified who is signing, I realise I have several thrush nightingale around and now each morning I start identifying who else is signing. Thanks a lot for this great opportunity
One of my favourite apps
kcsk_one
As an ornithology amateur myself, this app is fantastic! It’s very easy to use and allows me to learn so much about the fascinating world of birds. I would have just one suggestion. Please don’t force me to custom name every single location, and just let me leave a default one instead. It’s very inconvenient. Otherwise, I have no notes!
Great App
Lubilubricatio
Well done to the whole development team! You guys are doing a great job! As an amateur nature lover this app has everything I need to enjoy bird watching while I’m out in the field. The sound ID module is fast and very user friendly. It’s a great learning tool for beginners like myself! Thanks for helping get closer to these wonderful animals 😄
I wish it had Polish language
Kamil Mróz
I genuine love the app. Simple design, functional, all the features that are needed but I can’t recommend it to some people due to language barrier. I would love to have the bird names in other languages, especially Polish. I hope this will be added in near future.
What's new in 4.0:
Enhanced account authentication - Added a more secure method for logging in.
Improved flow for saving birds - Streamlined the process for saving birds to your life list.
Added support for iOS 26.
Bug fixes and improvements.
Important Update Notice: You'll be automatically logged out when this version launches due to the new authentication system. Simply log back in using any login screen. Forgot your password? Use the reset option to get back in quickly.
Version 4.0
The developer, Cornell University, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Identifiers
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Location
Contact Info
Usage Data
Privacy practices may vary based, for example, on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Size
379.2 MB
Category
Reference
Compatibility
Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 15.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
