RE:[cayugabirds-l] geese

[Marty Schlabach]

Thanks Wesley.
I don't recall for sure if Merlin IDed Cackling Goose more than once, but my 
vague memory is that it did.  The recording is about 2 ½ minutes long, and in 
replaying it, Merlin IDed Cackling at least twice.
Thanks,
--Marty

From: Wesley M. Hochachka 
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2024 1:51 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L ; Marty Schlabach 

Subject: Re: geese

Based on my understanding about how Merlin Sound ID works, in my opinion the 
answer to your question is "no".  You are wise to not blindly trust that Merlin 
Sound ID found a real Cackling Goose in the flock of geese that you had near 
your house.  There are two aspects of how Merlin Sound ID works that are behind 
my opinion:

  1.  Merlin Sound ID scans through recordings using 3-second-long subsets of 
an entire recording, and within each of these 3-second clips, it assigns each 
vocalization that it can identify to its most likely species.  So, all it would 
take is for one Canada Goose to give a slightly "off" vocalization a single 
time,  or just the right interference from background noise (the microphones 
are phones pick up all sorts of background noise) and "Cackling Goose" could 
pop up as being identified.  You didn't say whether you keep seeing Cackling 
Goose being repeatedly identified, or just a single time during the time that 
Merlin Sound ID was running.  I would tend toward skepticism of any ID that was 
made a single time during the period that Merlin Sound ID is running.

  1.  Behind the curtain, Merlin Sound ID isn't assigning a single species to 
each vocalization that it picks up.  Instead, for every separate vocalization, 
Merlin Sound ID is calculating how close that vocalization is to resembling 
every species for which the Sound ID model has been trained.  So, it is 
possible that Sound ID will consider two species to be very similar in 
likelihood, but the Merlin app only shows you the most likely species 
regardless of whether the most likely, and the second most likely, species 
might both have a very high likelihood of being the species that made the 
vocalization.  In other words, the presentation of information from the Merlin 
Sound ID model can lead to a false impression of certainty in an identification.

   Basically, as with interpretation of output from any machine-learning model, 
human intelligence is required in order to assess whether or not artificial 
stupidity has occurred.

Wesley Hochachka





From: 
bounce-128062900-3494...@list.cornell.edu
 
mailto:bounce-128062900-3494...@list.cornell.edu>>
 on behalf of Marty Schlabach mailto:m...@cornell.edu>>
Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2024 12:29
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
mailto:cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu>>
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] geese


One evening earlier this week, a fairly large flock of geese were grazing in 
field well behind our house.  It was almost dark.  I couldn't see them, but 
could ID Canada and Snow Geese.  I opened Merlin and it IDed Canada, Snow and 
Cackling Geese.



Can I believe Merlin's ID of the Cackling Geese?



--Marty

===

Marty Schlabach   m...@cornell.edu

8407 Powell Rd. home  607-532-3467

Interlaken, NY 14847   cell315-521-4315

===


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] snow geese, Halseyville Rd

[Nancy Tonachel Gabriel]

East side, between Mekeel and Swamp College Rds, a few dozen I’d say landing 
and feeding in a field (winter grain?) that’s beginning to green up. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 2, 2024, at 9:08 AM, Regi Teasley  wrote:
> 
> Keep this in mind as you hear the owls….
> 
> https://www.audubon.org/news/harriet-tubman-unsung-naturalist-used-owl-calls-signal-underground-railroad
> 
> Regi
> 
> Creativity is the heart of adaptive evolution.
> Terry Tempest Williams
> 
> 
> 
> --
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Re:[cayugabirds-l] geese

[Wesley M. Hochachka]

Based on my understanding about how Merlin Sound ID works, in my opinion the 
answer to your question is "no".  You are wise to not blindly trust that Merlin 
Sound ID found a real Cackling Goose in the flock of geese that you had near 
your house.  There are two aspects of how Merlin Sound ID works that are behind 
my opinion:

  1.
Merlin Sound ID scans through recordings using 3-second-long subsets of an 
entire recording, and within each of these 3-second clips, it assigns each 
vocalization that it can identify to its most likely species.  So, all it would 
take is for one Canada Goose to give a slightly "off" vocalization a single 
time,  or just the right interference from background noise (the microphones 
are phones pick up all sorts of background noise) and "Cackling Goose" could 
pop up as being identified.  You didn't say whether you keep seeing Cackling 
Goose being repeatedly identified, or just a single time during the time that 
Merlin Sound ID was running.  I would tend toward skepticism of any ID that was 
made a single time during the period that Merlin Sound ID is running.
  2.
Behind the curtain, Merlin Sound ID isn't assigning a single species to each 
vocalization that it picks up.  Instead, for every separate vocalization, 
Merlin Sound ID is calculating how close that vocalization is to resembling 
every species for which the Sound ID model has been trained.  So, it is 
possible that Sound ID will consider two species to be very similar in 
likelihood, but the Merlin app only shows you the most likely species 
regardless of whether the most likely, and the second most likely, species 
might both have a very high likelihood of being the species that made the 
vocalization.  In other words, the presentation of information from the Merlin 
Sound ID model can lead to a false impression of certainty in an identification.

   Basically, as with interpretation of output from any machine-learning model, 
human intelligence is required in order to assess whether or not artificial 
stupidity has occurred.

Wesley Hochachka





From: bounce-128062900-3494...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Marty Schlabach 

Sent: Saturday, March 2, 2024 12:29
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] geese


One evening earlier this week, a fairly large flock of geese were grazing in 
field well behind our house.  It was almost dark.  I couldn’t see them, but 
could ID Canada and Snow Geese.  I opened Merlin and it IDed Canada, Snow and 
Cackling Geese.



Can I believe Merlin’s ID of the Cackling Geese?



--Marty

===

Marty Schlabach   m...@cornell.edu

8407 Powell Rd. home  607-532-3467

Interlaken, NY 14847   cell315-521-4315

===



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[cayugabirds-l] Brown Creeper in Ithaca

[Christopher Sperry]

Brown Creeper on a dead pine tree in City of Ithaca, Kline rd March 2
Chris Sperry 

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[cayugabirds-l] geese

[Marty Schlabach]

One evening earlier this week, a fairly large flock of geese were grazing in 
field well behind our house.  It was almost dark.  I couldn't see them, but 
could ID Canada and Snow Geese.  I opened Merlin and it IDed Canada, Snow and 
Cackling Geese.

Can I believe Merlin's ID of the Cackling Geese?

--Marty
===
Marty Schlabach   m...@cornell.edu
8407 Powell Rd. home  607-532-3467
Interlaken, NY 14847   cell315-521-4315
===


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[cayugabirds-l] Harriet Tubman, an Unsung Naturalist, Used Owl Calls as a Signal on the Underground Railroad | Audubon

[Regi Teasley]

Keep this in mind as you hear the owls….

https://www.audubon.org/news/harriet-tubman-unsung-naturalist-used-owl-calls-signal-underground-railroad

Regi

Creativity is the heart of adaptive evolution.
Terry Tempest Williams



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