Knowledge in wildlife photography is a powerful tool! Knowing who you’re photographing opens up all sorts of doors to your photography. Identifying species and learning their names is a challenge! I receive a whole lot of text and emails with thumbnails asking me to identify who’s in the photo. But there is a simple tool for birds you should have on your iPhone. It’s called Merlin Bird ID.
I’ve mentioned it before in regards to its Bird Sound ID which I use a lot. I’ve forgotten to mention it’s Photo ID. I advise folks when out shooting, get the shot and then ID the bird later. Merlin makes this real simple. Whether the photo is on your camera’s LCD or, on your computer monitor like above, you simply open the app and take a picture of your picture (see screen shots below). Then just follow the steps on the app. It’s going to ask your location which is important for bird ID. It know the time and date. You give it a moment and it will come back with the answer, in this case, House Wren. It’s a really great tool you should have in your bag of confidence!
