Ep. 470: Identifying Tweety Birds With the Merlin App

Published: 2023-08-21 09:00:00

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Steven Rinella talks with Jessie Barry, Chris Wood, and Orin Robinson.

Topics discussed: Trying to beat the Merlin app with human bird calls; how it’s all in the “hwaaah”; the earliest recordings of bird sounds; a collection of extinct bird specimens; mapping the tapestry and complexity of bird population declines; when you’ve kept a bird watching list since you were 9-years-old; Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology’s competitive birding team; permits for sampling; the birds that have done well because of humans; Steve’s persecution complex; citizen science; relative abundance; two categories: game birds and tweety birds; how Merlin doesn’t spy on people; bird call trivia; and more.

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Referenced Books

Bird Songs Bible: The Complete, Illustrated Reference for North American Birds

by Les Beletsky

Steve mentions owning this book which contains bird sounds with a built-in speaker. He discusses how his kids like it and how he tried to use it to test the Merlin app, but the compressed audio quality meant Merlin couldn't identify the birds from the book's speaker.

Referenced at 00:10:56

Wild New World

by Dan Flores

Steve cites this book by historian Dan Flores when discussing that there are only five species of birds with global populations exceeding one billion (including English sparrow, a type of gull, and European starling). This fact was later questioned by the ornithologists as difficult to verify with confidence.

Referenced at 00:29:48