Wednesday, October 14, 2026: Merlin and audio recordings of birds: How Sound ID works and how you can help to improve it

This talk will cover how the Merlin team at Cornell makes Sound ID, what sorts of mistakes Merlin can make and why, the best ways to use Merlin, and how birders can make and contribute their audio recordings to help Merlin improve over time.

Speaker Bio:

Blaine Carnes is the Merlin Sound ID US and Canada project coordinator at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. In addition to his work on Merlin Sound ID, he runs a long-term bird banding project in Texas with study sites at the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center and Trinity River Audubon Center, and has helped to run a monitoring program with autonomous recording units at Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center. He handles eBird review for the area around Dallas, Texas, and is secretary of the Texas Bird Records Committee His past field experience includes ornithology projects through North America and the Neotropics.