OK, so you’re not a “birder.” Still, it might be fun to know the names of some of those species in your area, or the occasional winged visitor.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has released a free iPhone app to help people identify 285 birds in North America. Created with support from the National Science Foundation, the app asks just five questions, then displays photos of birds that match your description, customized to your location and time of year.
“We named the app ‘Merlin’ because of its uncanny, almost magical, way of guessing which bird you saw,” the lab’s Jessie Barry said.
The Merlin Bird ID app can now be downloaded at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/merlin-bird-id-by-cornell/id773457673?mt=8.
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