WhoBIRD has been working well for me. Doesn’t have the visual ID stuff that Merlin has, but it’s FOSS and identifies by sound, based on location and time of year.
Granted, I don’t know enough to know when it’s wrong, and I bet it’s not great for identifying rare birds, but it’s fun.
I did use BirdNet for quite some time before whoBIRD was available, but it’s so great to be able to open up the app (whoBIRD) wherever and have it identify the birds we’re hearing without having to wait for a network round trip. The somewhat recent feature of showing bird photos in whoBIRD is nice as well.
Running the app from time to time has had me notice birds in the area I would’ve otherwise missed.
Thanks to the app, I saw a long tailed tit for the first time and even managed to get a few photos! (They were mixed in with other bird song, but the app said they were singing in the area too. After a little searching, we found them.)
It’s definitely an app that would make someone install F-Droid on Android if they haven’t already. (As it’s only available on F-Droid and not Google Play.)
Anyone know of any other good similar apps? I’ve tried multiple plant ID apps over the years but none I’d recommend.
For plants, PlantNet works very well for me.
I use Seek by iNaturalist. It’s working well.
I use this all the time, it is fantastic.
Seconded
WhoBIRD has been working well for me. Doesn’t have the visual ID stuff that Merlin has, but it’s FOSS and identifies by sound, based on location and time of year.
Granted, I don’t know enough to know when it’s wrong, and I bet it’s not great for identifying rare birds, but it’s fun.
I totally agree. whoBIRD is amazing.
I did use BirdNet for quite some time before whoBIRD was available, but it’s so great to be able to open up the app (whoBIRD) wherever and have it identify the birds we’re hearing without having to wait for a network round trip. The somewhat recent feature of showing bird photos in whoBIRD is nice as well.
Running the app from time to time has had me notice birds in the area I would’ve otherwise missed.
Thanks to the app, I saw a long tailed tit for the first time and even managed to get a few photos! (They were mixed in with other bird song, but the app said they were singing in the area too. After a little searching, we found them.)
Photos:
https://pixelfed.social/i/web/post/677904448182940941
https://pixelfed.social/i/web/post/678023083037619560
It’s definitely an app that would make someone install F-Droid on Android if they haven’t already. (As it’s only available on F-Droid and not Google Play.)
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.woheller69.whobird/
Merlin isn’t open source?
I don’t think so, it also includes at least 4 trackers.