Ranking updated
Apps to identify birds by photo and song
Three bird apps list Ukrainian and come from bird research. Merlin Bird ID from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology identifies a bird from a photo, a recording of its song or a few simple questions. BirdNET, a research project of the Cornell Lab and Chemnitz University of Technology, recognises birds by sound. eBird is where you record what you saw, with checklists for your place and season, even offline.
How we picked: bird apps whose App Store listing includes Ukrainian and whose origin we could verify, from a declared trader or from the developer’s own website, with features from each app’s own description. We do not quote ratings or user counts.
Merlin Bird ID: photo, song or questions
Merlin Bird ID offers four ways to identify a bird: answer a few questions, upload a photo, record a singing bird, or explore the birds of a region. Sound ID and Photo ID use machine learning trained on the eBird and Macaulay Library collections. It adds ID tips, range maps, photos and calls, a Bird of the Day and a list of your own finds, and covers Europe among other regions. The Cornell Lab offers it free.
BirdNET: who is singing
BirdNET listens to a recording from your phone’s microphone and suggests the probable species, from nearly 3,000 of the most common birds of North America and Europe. Your recordings can help the research project collect observations.
eBird: your list of sightings
eBird records the birds you see from any place in the world, with checklists of the most likely species for your location and season, rare species flagged, local-language bird names and full offline use. Each list goes to your eBird account. For plants and fungi on the same walk, see plant identification apps and mushroom identification apps.
| App | Best for | How it identifies | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merlin Bird IDApp StoreGoogle Play | finding out what bird you saw or heard | photo, sound, a few questions, birds in a region | iOS, Android |
| BirdNETApp StoreGoogle Play | recognising birdsong from a recording | sound, about 3,000 species of North America and Europe | iOS, Android |
| eBirdApp StoreGoogle Play | keeping a list of your sightings | checklists for your place and season, offline use | iOS, Android |
Frequently asked questions
How can I identify a bird by its song?
Record it with Merlin Bird ID’s Sound ID or with BirdNET; both suggest the likely species from the recording.
Which app identifies a bird from a photo?
Merlin Bird ID has Photo ID: upload a photo and it suggests the species.
Is there a bird app in Ukrainian?
Yes. Merlin Bird ID, BirdNET and eBird all list Ukrainian in the App Store.