I didn\u2019t notice the scarlet tanager until the alert appeared on my phone: \u201cMerlin heard a new bird!\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite its brilliant plumage \u2014 jet-black wings on a crimson body \u2014 the songbird can be a hard one to spot in a forest because it prefers to stay high in the canopy. It sounds a little like a robin to an untrained ear.<\/p>\n
But the free Merlin Bird ID app detected a scarlet tanager was likely nearby by using artificial intelligence to analyze my phone\u2019s live sound recording. I paused my hike, quietly scanned the treetops, saw the bird as it kept singing and clicked a button to add the species to my growing \u201clife list\u201d of bird sightings. Digital confetti burst on my screen.<\/p>\n
Like a real-world version of Pok\u00e9mon Go, a gotta-catch-’em-all drive to add to my Merlin list has helped me find a great kiskadee in Mexico and a rusty-cheeked scimitar-babbler in the Himalayas. But sometimes the greatest revelations are close to home, as more AI nature app users are starting to discover.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur stereotypical demographic five years ago would have been retired people and already-avid birders,\u201d said the Merlin app\u2019s manager, Drew Weber, of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. \u201cNow we\u2019re seeing a lot of 20-and-30-year-olds posting stuff on their TikTok or Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n
Are you a bird person now?<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I a bird person now? Am I a bird person now?\u201d exclaims one incredulous TikTok user whose Merlin app detected a tufted titmouse, a cardinal and a Carolina wren within five seconds of her switching on the app. <\/p>\n
Another video shows Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold<\/a> gushing about the technology.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a northern mockingbird,\u201d says a smirking Darnold, then 27 and now 28, holding his phone up high while sitting in an outdoor lounge chair. <\/p>\n The app isn\u2019t always perfect, and mockingbirds \u2014 because they mimic other bird sounds \u2014 can sometimes confuse the AI. Was that really a great horned owl that flew over your home and hooted while you left the app on record by the window screen? Maybe, maybe not.<\/p>\n \u201cLow-frequency sounds can be challenging because there\u2019s other low frequencies, like cars driving past, that can trick it,\u201d Weber said.<\/p>\n AI nature apps are not just for the birds <\/p>\n Built-in computer vision technology on newer iPhones and Android devices makes it easier to identify plants and other creatures without having to download an app. Simply look at the flower you just photographed and \u2014 on iPhones \u2014 a leaf icon appears that, when clicked, can suggest the species. <\/p>\n But their AI accuracy isn\u2019t always the best for more obscure fauna and insects \u2014 and they are missing the immersive community and citizen science experience that free apps like Merlin and the image-based iNaturalist offer.<\/p>\n Every observation submitted to iNaturalist, run by a nonprofit, and Cornell\u2019s Merlin is potentially helping with conservation research as animal extinctions and biodiversity loss accelerate around the world.<\/p>\n iNaturalist\u2019s executive director, Scott Loarie, sees someone\u2019s urge to identify a backyard plant as just the start of their engagement with the app. The nonprofit also owns a sibling app, Seek, that is kid-friendly and less complicated.<\/p>\n \u201cOur strategy is really building this community of really passionate, engaged nature stewards who are not only learning and sharing knowledge about nature, but they\u2019re actually huge engines for creating biodiversity data and conservation action,\u201d Loarie said. <\/p>\n Submit an incorrect ID suggested by iNaturalist\u2019s AI and someone with real expertise will often politely correct you. Once there\u2019s enough consensus, you\u2019ll be notified that your observation has made it to \u201cresearch grade.\u201d <\/p>\n Don\u2019t use AI apps to pick strange berries (but I did)<\/p>\n On the search for huckleberry, a favorite of jam makers and grizzly bears, I kept iNaturalist handy on an August hike through the Wyoming wilderness. <\/p>\n And while I had a hard time finding a huckleberry bush, iNaturalist helped me discover other fruits: a type of serviceberry known as the saskatoon; the big-leafed, raspberry-like thimbleberry and the vibrant orange berries of the Greene\u2019s mountain-ash, a type of rowan. After cross-checking many other resources, I tasted all three. The first two were sweet, the last bitter and disgusting. <\/p>\n \u201cYou should never trust any sort of automatic ID or a stranger on the internet for something as important as edible plants,\u201d Loarie said. \u201cSo, I definitely don\u2019t want to endorse that. But I\u2019d certainly endorse getting to know plants and animals.\u201d<\/p>\n One common thread in the TikTok videos is the joy of discovering the variety of wildlife that live among us, if we pay enough attention. <\/p>\n Elsewhere, I\u2019ve found it particularly helpful in identifying things to avoid \u2013 poison ivy, poison oak, disease-carrying ticks \u2013 and things to destroy, like a nymph of the invasive spotted lanternfly that\u2019s now infesting at least 19 U.S. states<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n