Post #1533458

2026-04-14 11:01 UTC

There are a lot of birds outside my window this morning. Whether you call it machine learning or &quot;AI&quot;, Merlin is such a fine example of how computing can connect us to the more-than-human-world. Do you have any favorite examples of tools that do that? https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Replies (3)

@ink@merveilles.town 2026-04-14 11:06

Their website has an animation of migration patterns for different species. Here is the one for the White-throated Sparrow, which confirms that the ones outside my window are headed north into Canada for the summer. (I honestly wish I could follow them) https://science.ebird.org/en/status-and-trends/species/whtspa/abundance-map-weekly?week=52 (zoom & click the play button)

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@alex@social.alexschroeder.ch 2026-04-14 11:06

@ink I use Flora Incognita to identify plants I don't know when I'm out walking. It's what allowed me to learn all the flowers. The years before I used a book and it was really hard because I had so many doubts. But with the app, I can take a picture, see the model's confidence, compare it to the supplied images, cross-check with my wife who knows a lot more about flowers, etc. And so walking, taking pictures, conversations about plants, blogging, and the passing of the seasons all meld into one.

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@donutage@mastodon.social 2026-04-14 16:37

@ink I use iNaturalist for plant & animal identification. I've started referring to it as my Pokédex.

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