eBird and Merlin Updated!

By Mic McCarty, Field Trip Coordinator

Exciting news, the eBird app has been updated! You can now add other animals, rather than only birds, to eBird. When we upload photos, videos, and sound recordings to eBird these pieces of media are then integrated into a scientific archive called Macauley Library, both managed by Cornell University. As of March 2026, Macaulay Library has over ninety-three million pieces of bird media from around the world. Citizen scientists, like our Tampa Audubon members, have submitted media of over 10,000 species of birds. All of our photos and recordings go into the Macauley Library. 

The Macaulay Library (https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/) is the world's largest archive of animal media, with birds as the highest species count. The library is expanding and continues to catalog media of all animals; fish, mammals, reptiles, any class of animals, they want a photo! They are even expanding to include beetles! There are over 500,000 identified species of beetles, and they need your photos to catalogue them all! For example, they have only a single photo of a fifteen-spotted lady beetle,

https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=t-12912015.  Capturing new animal media, what a challenge! To add photos like pictures of swamp rabbits, coral snakes, or any other animal, just add them using the “add media” option on your eBird checklist web page. 

Other media upload options to eBird include photos and audio of Habitat and Soundscape. These are, “[p]hotos that illustrate habitat or recordings without a focal species.” You can also upload media that, “illustrate[s] the birding experience, such as landmarks, signs, or memorable moments.” 

Merlin is undergoing changes as well. In a soon to be released version, Merlin will compile your audio recordings faster and make saving the recording to your phone optional with a save button in the recording interface. Additionally, when you record a species and click on the bird, it will open a more detailed account of that species including a frequency bar chart for how often and likely a bird is in your area. As with any update, Merlin also shows the most recent  and updated range charts for any given species.. Keep your Merlin app up-to-date and you will enjoy these upgrades soon! 

[1] Macauley Library https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/, March 9, 2026.

[1] Macauley Library https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=t-12912015 March 9, 2026

[1] eBird https://ebird.org/checklist March 9, 2026