Some people are very vocal about resenting the Merlin app for creating what they think are lazy birders.

If someone is merely walking through a park with the app in record mode and scribbling down everything it hears as gospel, then yes, I’m on board (and no that person should never be adding their list to eBird!).

But Merlin can be a great tool for helping people see or hear a new bird species for the first time. And it can also help birders of all levels find birds they wouldn’t otherwise know were in their vicinity.

Last week I heard a weird cackling call that I did not recognize. We have a large flock of Blue Jays in the neighborhood that like to squawk and also mimic other birds, so at first I just assumed that’s what I was hearing. But when the noise happened a second time, I quickly grabbed my phone and turned on Merlin.

The sound was coming from a Red-headed Woodpecker, and I was going to find it!

I’ve seen these beautiful birds in my yard only a handful of times.

This one was a juvenile so he didn’t have the bright feathers. He was clinging to a bird feeder pole above my birdbaths.

More than 8 million birds had crossed over our county the previous night during fall migration, so he probably dropped into my backyard to rest.

He clung there squawking for a good 5 minutes before he was brave enough to drop into one of the birdbaths where he took many sips of water.

Thanks to the Merlin app, I learned to recognize a new bird call, and I was encouraged to go out of my way to locate a bird species I don’t usual see in my backyard.

I wouldn’t call that lazy birding.