Photographers: Help Train Merlin Photo ID
Photo: Macaulaylibrary.org
Cornell’s Merlin bird identification app has launched a new Photo ID feature, dubbed MerlinVision. The magic of this mobile app comes from the countless bird photos that eBird users have uploaded to help train Merlin. You can help as well. All you need to do is draw boxes around birds. Each box improves the computer vision algorithms—boosting the accuracy of the Photo ID tools.
MerlinVision is able to identify 650+ species of North American birds, but it needs more training images. View the current target list, and submit your photos via eBird. Who doesn’t like to view cool bird photos and contribute to cutting-edge research at the same time? Get Started!
The current target list contains hundreds of species whose photos they need. Here’s are some of our local species included in the list. The number of photos they need for each species follows the species name. [Jane Beseda]
| Chukar – 552 | Verdin – 237 |
| Surfbird – 137 | Pygmy Nuthatch – 203 |
| Flammulated Owl – 918 | Canyon Wren – 235 |
| Western Screech-Owl – 587 | Pacific Wren – 401 |
| Mexican Whip-poor-will – 978 | California Gnatcatcher – 682 |
| Black Swift – 725 | Black-tailed Gnatcatcher – 555 |
| Vaux’s Swift – 593 | Red-whiskered Bulbul – 588 |
| Costa’s Hummingbird – 176 | Wrentit – 473 |
| Calliope Hummingbird – 105 | California Thrasher – 83 |
| Lewis’s Woodpecker – 95 | Le Conte’s Thrasher – 830 |
| Hammond’s Flycatcher – 260 | Sage Thrasher – 99 |
| Gray Flycatcher – 241 | MacGillivray’s Warbler – 196 |
| Dusky Flycatcher – 462 | Black-chinned Sparrow – 651 |
| Bell’s Vireo – 104 | Brewer’s Sparrow – 156 |
| Gray Vireo – 802 | Bell’s Sparrow – 568 |
| Hutton’s Vireo – 271 | Abert’s Towhee – 686 |
| Cassin’s Vireo – 418 | Rufous-crowned Sparrow – 194 |
| Pinyon Jay – 733 | Green-tailed Towhee – 115 |
| Island Scrub-Jay – 870 | Tricolored Blackbird – 423 |
| Yellow-billed Magpie – 667 | Scott’s Oriole – 377 |
| Clark’s Nutcracker – 263 | Brown-capped Rosy-Finch – 839 |
| Violet-green Swallow – 29 | Cassin’s Finch – 279 |
| Oak Titmouse – 311 | Lawrence’s Goldfinch – 372 |
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