Tired of lugging around heavy field guides? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a list of the most common bird species at any location, just a tap away? Merlin Bird ID is what you’re looking for. Nearly 1.5 million people have used Merlin as a bird identification tool for birds in the Americas—putting a name to your mystery bird from a photo or by answering five easy questions. With the Explore Birds feature, you can also generate Most Likely bird lists anywhere in the world. Download Merlin and see what birds are most likely at your favorite birding spot.

You might be wondering how this works—how can this information be available for any place in the world? The likely lists in Merlin are based on eBird frequencies (the percentage of complete checklists that report the species), which allows us to provide lists of expected species as well as tagging more unusual species as Uncommon or Rare. Merlin has full treatment (photos, audio, text, and map plus Merlin ID magic) for more than 2,000 species, and for the rest of the species there will will be names and links to photos. You can still explore a list of likely birds for any place in the world—from Adelaide to Zanzibar.

Merlin is working towards full features for the birds of Central and South America next. You can always help by using MerlinVision, uploading photos (particularly from the targets lists), sounds, and sightings. Thank you to every eBirder who has contributed a sighting, photo or audio recording. We look forward to continuing to expand Merlin’s toolbox in the future.