Why are growing birders flocking to Shazam-like apps to identify avians?

Megan Szostak, 26, has always been a “bird girl.”

The desire to observe and appreciate the world around her – and the avians that glide in and out – was ingrained in her from a young age, when she was given her grandfather’s binoculars after his grandfather’s death.

Armed with this, she began identifying birds from a young age, armed with a field guide at her home in San Francisco.

But in recent years, her birding tool belt has expanded to include something much more modern – an app.

“I’ve had friends who don’t describe themselves as birders, but are just curious about nature and the world around them, advise me,” Megan said.

She is one of millions of people who have downloaded Merlin Bird ID, which she says can identify any bird by its appearance, song or call.

“I think it’s a great tool to incorporate into my birding routine,” she says.

And when a heat wave sends more people outdoors, or young people take to birding, these apps are growing in popularity.

Chief among them is the identification of a merlin bird, which is at Cornell University’s Ornithology Lab.

In 2026 alone, it was downloaded 12 million times, according to director Jesse Barry – and had a total of 42 million downloads.

The app was released in 2010. She said it has come a long way since it started in the US in 2014, with machine learning systems able to identify 285 common bird species from photos.

At that time, a real feather in his cap, but ten years or more, and now you can identify 11,000 species of birds – as many around the world.

Barry credits the development to AI as well as the “amazing community of birdwatchers worldwide who can provide their footage,” providing additional data to train the technology.