The CLO had brought us from early recordings of birds, through  autonomous
recording devices of overflying chips and peeps to owling while sleeping.
Truly it's a brave new world.

On Fri, Jul 9, 2021, 3:48 PM Gary Kohlenberg <jg...@cornell.edu> wrote:

> Some are finding the new Merlin sound ID app has some deficiencies with
> difficult species, like the trillers. For myself, I have been blown away by
> the fun and accuracy of such a new application. I wouldn’t base a heard
> only rare bird report totally on this app yet, but it sure will be handy to
> add confidence to a sighting. It will always be better to eBird sightings,
> with notes / photo / audio attached, for the tough ones.
>
> The times I have used Merlin I was surprised by the ability of the app to
> pick out background songs that I wasn’t even aware of at the time. I just
> assumed it would only ID the loudest song while ignoring the rest. I’m sure
> as time goes on the learning logic will make it more accurate as the photo
> application has become. I would guess that people with specific frequency
> hearing loss will find it useful for some species that may not sound like
> they used too.
> I’m sure people can fool Merlin with a good song imitation so I wonder
> about mimic species. If a mockingbird is singing a N. Cardinal song will it
> ID the cardinal and should we count it. ;)
>
> One benefit that may be realized is an increased confidence with some
> birders on reporting rarer species. As Dave noted some rare bird reports
> have little or no associate documentation to support the sighting, but
> there are also sightings or "heard only" rare species that are reported as
> more common species because of lack of confidence or familiarity. I have
> seen this many times and have encouraged birders to submit sightings with
> notes to aid review. This may be more prevalent than people think. We
> probably have all seen this with numbers. Very large species counts require
> confirmation so people reduce the count to a number that doesn’t reach the
> trigger.
>
> All these new tools should really help the citizen science eBird database
> become more useful. Amateur birders as observers will never be perfect, but
> on a huge data set it doesn’t really matter that a few sightings are
> inaccurate as they are overwhelmed; 100% is a target.
> It’ll be fun to hear about more weird sound ID’s. as people find every
> quirk. It won’t be long we can just leave our phones outside on “record”
> and and drink coffee while the bird list in generated.
>
> Gary
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 9, 2021, at 3:28 PM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> I think the Library of Natural Sound used to ask, when archiving audio,
> whether the bird was seen to make the call. Now, when people include audio
> with eBird submissions, that question is not asked, and sometimes people
> are clearly guessing, even against the advice of apps intended to help them
> ID the calls. I recently checked Macaulay trying to learn more about
> Black-billed Cuckoo calls. Because at many places and times the species is
> not rare, I think the recordings go directly from eBird to Macaulay without
> any review. Before I found any audio recordings which were verified by
> sight, I found 2 examples of people labeling Chipmunk calls as cuckoos and
> 1 Yellow-billed labeled as Black-billed. My confidence in Macaulay as a
> source of information was shaken.
>
> Recently an enthusiastic young collector of rare bird reports claimed on
> the basis of hearing alone that there were 2 Worm-eating Warblers singing
> at a new location in Tompkins County, a county where the species is always
> rare yet is regularly found in one location where it’s a lot of trouble to
> climb a steep slope. Maybe that person is competent to make that judgement.
> Maybe there are plenty of birders who can. I know I can’t, and clearly
> Merlin can’t. I sure would appreciate people noting in their eBird reports
> whether their audio contributions are of birds they also identified by
> sight while the bird was recorded making the noise, or whether the bird was
> not seen.
>
> - - Dave Nutter
>
> On Jul 9, 2021, at 2:11 PM, Linda Orkin <wingmagi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks Jay and Alicia. I didn’t see first reply though I was looking for
> it. Appreciate it.
> I am going to try the uploading to eBird. I didn’t know you could do that
> It’s interesting looking at the spectrogram and comparing between the
> trillers too. Although obviously not foolproof it can help you hear the
> notes in a slightly different  way.
>
> Linda
>
> On Jul 9, 2021, at 1:42 PM, Alicia <t...@ottcmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi Linda,
>
> Jay replied a couple days ago - forwarded  below.
>
> Best -
>
> Alicia
>
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Possible Worm-eating Warblers in Lansing NY
> Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2021 12:02:10 -0400
> From: Jay McGowan <jw...@cornell.edu> <jw...@cornell.edu>
> Reply-To: Jay McGowan <jw...@cornell.edu> <jw...@cornell.edu>
> To: Linda Orkin <wingmagi...@gmail.com> <wingmagi...@gmail.com>
> CC: Barbara Bauer Sadovnic <bsadov...@htva.net> <bsadov...@htva.net>,
> KitKat PonyBird <kitkatponyb...@gmail.com> <kitkatponyb...@gmail.com>,
> Cayugabirds-L <Cayugabirds-L@cornell.edu> <Cayugabirds-L@cornell.edu>
>
> Hi Linda,
> Yes, clicking that will give us a record of it, but it won't be a lot to
> go on otherwise. One thing that will help long-term would be to make a
> recording of the bird, then upload it to an eBird checklist (doing some
> light editing following our best practices
> <https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001064341-audio-preparation-and-upload-guidelines>
> whenever possible). This won't have any immediate effect on the model of
> course, but longer term it will provide us with more diverse examples to
> train on.
>
> Jay
>
> On Wed, Jul 7, 2021 at 11:34 AM Linda Orkin <wingmagi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Jay I wonder if you can say what we should do if we know song ID is
>> incorrect. I got worm eating warbler for chipping sparrow down by vas’s
>> park rink today and I clicked no match. Is that the best way to tri and
>> alert Merlin to an incorrect choice?
>>
>> Linda Orkin
>>
>> On Jul 6, 2021, at 10:32 AM, Jay McGowan <jw...@cornell.edu> wrote:
>>
>> 
>> This is a good reminder that the new Sound ID function in Merlin is a
>> great way to cue into new sounds and learn to ID birds, but should never be
>> taken as the final word on an identification. In this case, trilling
>> species like Worm-eating Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and
>> even Pine Warbler can be challenging for even experienced birders to
>> identify with confidence, and the sound ID model has trouble being sure as
>> well. Juncos in particular pose a challenge, with their extreme variation
>> between individuals. So certainly, if you're in the right habitat, look a
>> little harder for a bird flagged as a possible Worm-eating, but in the
>> cases you describe, these were almost certainly Chipping Sparrows.
>>
>> P.S. I'd be happy to take a listen to a recording if you want to send it
>> privately.
>>
>> Jay
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 4, 2021 at 6:38 PM Barbara Bauer Sadovnic <bsadov...@htva.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The same thing happened to me today, also while eating breakfast on my
>>> porch, in Enfield!  I also tried BirdNET, and got the same result, although
>>> that might have been a “wild guess.” When I went looking for it I thought I
>>> saw a chipping sparrow, but couldn’t get a good look.
>>>
>>> Later in the day the bird (I think the same bird) was closer, and was
>>> identified as a chipping sparrow. But I couldn’t find it.
>>>
>>> Just now I heard it again, and again Merlin thought “worm-eating
>>> warbler.”  When I got closer Merlin changed his mind to chipping sparrow,
>>> and when I finally got a good look, I did see chipping sparrow, singing.
>>>
>>> I am really enjoying the new Merlin.
>>>
>>> On Jul 4, 2021, at 1:15 PM, KitKat PonyBird <kitkatponyb...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> 
>>> While enjoying breakfast on my back porch today, I heard an
>>> unfamiliar bird.  The new Sound ID on the Merlin app came up with
>>> Worm-eating Warbler.
>>>
>>> Merlin says this bird is rare for this area.  I heard at least three of
>>> the same song from different locations at nearly the same time.  Still
>>> hearing them around.
>>>
>>> I did a couple of recordings, but don't know (yet) how to share them.
>>> It's definitely different from the chipping sparrows I usually hear.
>>>
>>> Wish I'd been able to get a visual.
>>>
>>> Happy Birding
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Jay McGowan
>> Macaulay Library
>> Cornell Lab of Ornithology
>> jw...@cornell.edu
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>>
>
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> Macaulay Library
> Cornell Lab of Ornithology
> jw...@cornell.edu
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