Merlin

 

Sometimes I'm not so sure about this Merlin app. Don't get me wrong, it's a miracle of modern technology which I use almost daily but it has a serious limitation.

We have the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to thank for its development but there are times when it's intensely frustrating, like today when....

....passing through some dense woodland we heard a call which we didn't recognise so we deployed the app, which quickly informed us that there were two birds calling near us....

....one of which was a bullfinch.

We haven't seen a bullfinch in ages and, at this time of year in their mating finery, they should be a spectacular sight but we could not, for all our searching, see him. He was very obliging, singing away while we moved around trying to locate him - to no avail.

Not every bird is as helpful as this blackbird which made sure he remained in clear view even though I moved very close. So I suppose the next development for the students who work on the Merlin app is to invent some way of having the app locate the bird. Now, there's a challenge.

There's much more about the app on the Cornell Lab website, here.