I also picked up a penduline tit on my Merlin app.
It took me until yesterday to get good views of a Willow Warbler, they seem to have been in short supply this year. I agree that Merlin can sometimes produce "surprising" results and shouldn't be depended on as the only means by which a species is identified. Sometimes it doesn't manage to detect easy species that are loud and easily detected by the human ear, like Nightingale!I hadn't seen a Willow Warbler in Switzerland this year, and having a bit of spare time before going into work this morning, I figured I could spend some time around the Kaferberg looking for one. I used my bins and Merlin; and must have seen 50+ Chiffchaffs before seeing a bird that looked slightly different, especially more white at the breast.... It moved around a fair bit before singing: got a Wood Warbler according to Merlin (and features are consistent with that).
Definitely a new species for the year, but still no Willow Warbler
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Also got very nice views of a Cuckoo and a Little Grebe at the Katzensee/Bussisee this afternoon. Happy day
Sometimes it doesn't manage to detect easy species that are loud and easily detected by the human ear, like Nightingale!
Well there are literally hundreds of Nightingales singing loudly around Geneva at the moment, the problem is that they are so loud that it is tough detecting singing warblers that should be arriving! Quite a lot of Wryneck here but they have pretty well stopped singing, they are much easier to detect in early April.Ah, that's another species I didn't get yet for my Swiss list this year.
I did get a surprising addition this morning though. A rather light coloured Wryneck on a somewhat freshly cut lawn on campus at ETH this morning. I tried to check on Ornitho.ch if there are more observations in the Zurich region, but Ornito.ch seems to be down atm.
And the Slender Billed Gull recently reported at GrangettesSuperb looking bird and making for a remarkable rare gull double for landlocked Switzerland with the Audouin’s still present there