Doubting the Merlin app until it proved me wrong

I spent two weeks swearing that app was just guessing IDs, but it nailed a weird call I couldn't place from a warbler behind my shed in Dayton. Then it caught a red-shouldered hawk sound from a mile off, so now I actually trust it for early morning listens. Anyone else have a moment where the tech outdid your own ears?

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blair_webb13d ago

Wait, you mean technology finally caught up to what our ears have been missing this whole time? That red-shouldered hawk from a mile off is the exact kinda call I’d write off as a blue jay mimic. It nailed my nemesis, a wood thrush that sings from the same thicket every dawn and I never see. Now I leave the phone on the deck rail and just let it run. It’s not perfect, but when it catches something I can’t hear, that’s when I go quiet and learn. My own ears still get first shot, but I’m done acting like the app’s dumb. It earned its spot next to my binoculars.

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