Merlin Bird App to Feed Real-Time IDs into eBird While European Council Advises Against Official Survey Use

The Merlin bird identification app will feed real-time detections into the eBird database, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Guardian reported that detections recorded by users will be automatically collected on the platform, which holds more than 2 billion bird observation records.

Merlin was created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and has used machine learning for instantaneous birdsong identification since 2021.

The app can identify 2,066 bird species and includes most birds in the US, Canada, and Europe. It has been downloaded more than 40 million times in 240 countries, up from 33 million as of December 2025. In the UK, almost 2 million people used Merlin in May 2026.

Britain ranks second globally in total users. Canada, Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands are among the top 10 countries by usage. The total UK bird population has fallen by more than 70 million over the past 50 years, the British Trust for Ornithology stated.

Jessie Barry, one of the leaders of the Merlin project, said the eBird mobile app will soon allow uploads of recordings made in Merlin. She added that upcoming features will improve links to eBird systems to monitor bird populations using data from what users hear.

“This data helps create tools that can be used to further conservation, inspire support and inform ecological management strategies,” Barry said.

She noted that collecting additional species remains an ongoing project and that more data will better serve understanding of population changes. The European Bird Census Council recommends against using Merlin in official breeding bird surveys due to potential misidentifications. The council has established a monitoring group to coordinate acoustic bird monitoring across Europe.