One way I know I’m getting old? It’s not the mysterious knee pain (self-inflicted, if we’re being honest). It’s when I download a bird identification app with multiple gigabytes of data and get excited about it.
I’m not joking! Recently, I excitedly told my wife, “ohhh, there’s a house finch in the backyard.” She gave me a savage eye roll that’s usually reserved for the best of my dad jokes.
But hear me out: Merlin Bird ID is actually ridiculously cool!
The app, made by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, has a sound ID feature that’s basically Shazam for birds. You hit record, point your phone vaguely skyward, and it tells you exactly what’s making noise around you in real time! It’s pretty neat to watch the spectrogram light up as different birds chime in, each one getting identified and added to your list.
I’ve lived in this house for years, and had no idea we had more than a dozen birds just chit chatting out back: we’re talking Black Phoebes, Dark-eyed Juncos, House Finches, White-throated Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, California Scrub-jays. Oh, and fucking crows.
The app is completely free and works offline once you download your region’s bird pack, and now I’m that person who stops mid-conversation because “Oh wait, do you hear that? That’s a Chestnut-backed Chickadee!”
My kids think I’ve lost it. Benson is confused why our walks now involve me holding my phone in the air like I’m trying to find cell service. But whatever, I can now identify the difference between an American Crow and a Common Raven!
