SAN DIEGO — Whether you're new to bird watching or have years of experience, there's an app that could help you keep track of San Diego's massive bird population.
San Diego has the largest permanent and transitory bird populations in the country due to its location on the Pacific Flyway, a flight path used by birds to migrate.
That can make it difficult to pick out all the different species, but an app called Merlin is trying to make that distinction a little bit easier.
"For the novice, it's a good place to start with bird identification," said Jerry Martin, the owner of Wild Bird's Unlimited in Scripps Ranch.
The app comes from Cornell Ornithology at Cornell University, and Martin says it helps connects people with nature.
"San Diego is the birdiest county in the nation. There are 525 different species of birds," said Martin.
The Merlin App has three functions for identification.
"One is basic bird identification, the next is with a photo," explained Martin.
If you weren't able to snap a picture of the bird in time, the app can still help you identify it. Merlin just requires you to answer a series of five questions, starting with the location you saw the bird.
"The next one is date you saw the bird, the next big thing is the size of the bird, you'll get seven choices and that's followed by color most people identify birds via colors and the app give you nine colors and you choose, " he said. "It will ask about bird activity, what was the bird doing, Was it on the ground, was it swimming, soaring? Then it spits out a list of birds that are probable candidates."
If that's your bird, you confirm and the identification is stored. According to Martin, the app is 95% accurate at figuring out what type of bird you're looking at.
Merlin will also play the bird's song for you, which can help pinpoint the species.
"That really ties the picture and the song of the bird together," Martin said.
Along with the many features of Merlin, the app does not cost anything to download.
"Everybody likes it, but what they really like about it, is it's free," he said.
To attract more birds, there are three basic necessities: food, moving water such as a fountain so the birds can hear it, and cover from predators.
From there, it won't take long for the birds to come flocking.
"The birds tweet that out to the other birds. That's the original tweeting the way I see it," said Martin.