Recording and Documenting Bird Sounds for Identification Help

Whether you are scanning grassland edges around Medicine Lake or listening from a wetland overlook, a song you cannot place is easier to resolve if you capture it well and keep it with its context. The most direct route is a smartphone running Merlin Sound ID from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Record the bird with the phone's built-in microphone, save the session, keep an unchanged original, and note when, where and how the sound was heard. Then use that file for identification help. Once you have identified the bird yourself, you can attach the recording to an eBird checklist.

The short answer

Record in Merlin Sound ID with the phone's internal microphone pointed at the bird and away from background noise.
Aim for at least 30 seconds if the bird keeps calling, but never disturb it to get a longer take.
Stop the recording and tap Save. Recordings are not saved automatically.
Export and back up the original before you edit anything.
Write down the location, the time, the timestamps where the target bird calls, its behavior and any interference.
Treat Merlin's suggestion as a lead, not a confirmed identification, until you have verified it independently.

Before you start recording

Merlin records in WAV format and handles the technical recording settings itself, so you do not need to adjust sample rates or gain. What you do need to know is which microphone your phone is using. Most phones have more than one, and the active one is often a small opening near the bottom or top edge. Check your phone's documentation if you are unsure. Make sure a case, finger or pocket lining is not covering it.

Plan your position before the bird starts singing. Approach only if you can do so without disturbing the bird. A slightly weaker recording of a bird behaving naturally is more useful than a close recording of a bird that flushes or stops calling because of you.

Recording in the field

Open Merlin Sound ID and start recording as soon as the bird begins vocalizing.
Point the active microphone toward the bird. Where possible, keep wind, traffic, voices or other noise behind or beside the phone rather than in front of it.
Hold the phone gently. Gripping, shifting or tapping it adds handling noise that can bury faint calls.
Stay still and quiet. Footsteps on dry vegetation and whispered comments are picked up too.
Keep recording for at least 30 seconds if the bird keeps calling. Several repetitions of a song or call give a reviewer more to work with than a single phrase.
Stop the recording, then tap Save. If you skip this step, the session may not be kept.

Saved sessions stay on your phone until you share them. Keeping individual recordings to ten minutes or less is recommended. Longer files are allowed, but they can load slowly.

Notes that make a recording useful

A recording without context is much harder to identify. Set the recording location in the app, and add notes as soon as you can while details are fresh. The most helpful notes mark the timestamps where the target bird is calling, describe what the bird was doing, and add anything you saw. For example, you might note whether it was perched, flying or hidden in vegetation, and whether other birds were calling at the same time. If you are not sure what the bird was, say so and keep the recording. An honestly unresolved identification is exactly what identification help is for.

A simple recording worksheet keeps app suggestions separate from your own confirmed decisions. The template below was created for this guide. It is not an official form.

Field	What to record
Recording ID	Your own label, e.g. REC-04
Original filename	Exactly as the app or phone saved it
Date	Day of the recording
Local time and time zone	When the recording started
Location	Where you were standing
Phone and app	Device and recording app used
Target timestamps	Start and end times where the bird of interest calls
Interference	Wind, other birds, vehicles, handling noise and when they occur
Bird seen separately?	Yes or no, with any visual details
Proposed identification	App suggestion or your guess, clearly labelled as unconfirmed
Verification evidence	What independently supports the identification, if anything

Illustrative example of a short annotation, using a hypothetical recording:

REC-04; target 00:18–00:26; wind at 00:21; bird unseen; identification unresolved.

Saving, exporting and keeping the original

Use the Share option in Merlin to export a saved session. Keep that exported file as your untouched original, store a backup copy, and do all editing on a separate working copy. Log any edits you make, and note which part of the original each trimmed clip came from. This lets you match timestamps in your notes to timestamps in the clip.

Illustrative example: if a working clip covers 00:15–00:30 of the original recording, then 00:03 in the clip corresponds to 00:18 in the original. That is where the target bird in the annotation above begins calling.

Editing a copy without damaging the evidence

Edit as little as possible.
Trim handling noise from the very beginning and end, but leave a natural lead-in and lead-out around the bird's sounds.
Keep meaningful pauses between songs or calls. Their rhythm can matter for identification.
Do not apply noise reduction, and do not cut out other sounds just to make the file sound cleaner.
Keep the original file format, sample rate and bit depth. Do not convert a compressed file, such as MP3 or M4A, to WAV. Conversion adds no detail and can mislead reviewers about the source.

Using a voice memo or another app's recording

If you captured the bird with your phone's voice memo app or another recorder, you can still bring it into Merlin. Import it through Sound ID's My Sound Recordings, or use the share or export menu in the other app to send the file to Merlin. Common formats such as MP3, M4A and WAV can usually be imported, depending on what your phone supports. The same rules apply: keep the original unchanged and add context notes.

Getting identification help versus reporting to eBird

These are two different steps, and the order matters. While the bird's identity is still unresolved, use the recording to get identification help, and keep your notes on what you heard and saw. Merlin's Sound ID suggestions need independent verification before you report a species to eBird. A match on the screen is not, by itself, a confirmed record.

Once you have identified the bird independently, you can attach the audio to an eBird checklist that covers the time and place of the recording.

On a phone: open the eBird checklist that covers the recording.
Share the saved Merlin session to eBird.
Select the focal species you identified independently.
Trim if needed and add your notes.
Save or submit the checklist. The audio uploads at that point.
On the website: open the checklist and use its Add Media control to attach the file.

eBird accepts audio files up to 500 MB. This is a separate limit from Merlin's recommendation to keep recordings to ten minutes or less.

Quick field checklist

Know which microphone is active and keep it uncovered.
Approach only without disturbing the bird.
Point the phone at the bird and away from noise.
Hold it gently, stay still and quiet, and aim for 30 seconds or more if the bird cooperates.
Stop, then tap Save.
Set the location and note target timestamps, behavior and interference.
Export and back up the original; edit only a copy, and only minimally.
Seek identification help while the bird is unconfirmed; add audio to eBird only after independent identification.