Merlin changing its mind

[Paula Hansley]

Birders,

What I find to be most interesting about my experience this morning is that Merlin changed its mind when I got closer to the bird— from Lesser Goldfinch to Yellow-breasted Chat.  I’m used to it being mistaken, but I didn’t realize that distance to the bird can make such a difference.

Paula Hansley

Louisville 

[Marty]

I had some interesting moments with Merlin back in May at Aiken Canyon, when I wasn't quite sure just what warbler I was hearing (only one individual singer)... so I opened it up, and every time the warbler sang Merlin simultaneously said Yellow Warbler AND Virginia's Warbler. After first IDing both at once, with each repeated song Merlin lit up both together! I listened VERY carefully, and only one bird was singing. 

So I felt sympathetic with (but surprised at) its indecision, and shut it off. The dry habitat suggested Virginia's over Yellow, but there had been repeated spring rains over the past week, as evidenced by fresh mud & even standing water at one spot in the normally dry creek bed... and migration was underway, so I finally decided this bird was a Yellow (& then later, further along the trail, I did hear and see a Virginia as well.

But I wonder if this is a case like yours Paula, where if I had moved closer Merlin would have made a clear decision. I generally think of a Yellow warbler's song as louder & more emphatic than a Virginia's, but from further away maybe the differences fade?

My 73-yr-old ears & 58 years of birding experience are still (in most cases I think) better than Merlin's, but it is still a remarkable & useful (& remarkably improving--unlike yours truly) tool!

Marty Wolf 

NW Colorado Springs 

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[Buzz]

I agree Marty,

Think about the number of photos that are probably submitted daily. 100K or 1M? Worldwide. 

I’m sure there are far fewer sounds submitted. When the sound reviews increase to a similar level and frequency then our sounds quality will increase too.

Sent from the all new Aol app for iOS

Buzz Schaumberg 

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[Caleb A]

Hello Paula!

Thanks for bringing this up--as a musician who's messed around with testing the accuracy of Merlin's audio identification (I can't afford a camera, so I've gravitated towards recording bird songs for the past few years haha), the proximity to the singing bird affects two incredibly important factors that influence the computer: clarity of timbre (specificity, density on sonogram, etc.) and decibels (imagine looking at a photo that has contrast blasted vs. a very low contrast-res image). Since many passerines are distinguished by mere nuances of timbre at times, and considering the constantly fluctuating factor of background noise that pollutes the clarity of the timbres Merlin can capture with a live sonogram, I've learned to give Merlin audio an appropriate amount of skepticism. Merline audio will continue to improve with time, but the volume of audios captured in the birding community is so enormously dwarfed by the photos captured, so training Merlin has disproportionately favored photos over audio as of now!

Happy birding!

Caleb Alons