Ep. 470: Identifying Tweety Birds With the Merlin App

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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