Bird aficianados should get a kick out of this one: Gizmag.com reports that Cornell University and the Visipedia research project’s Merlin Bird Photo ID program can identify birds from photos (http://tinyurl.com/merbird). A screen shot of the program in action, courtesy of Cornell University, is shown.

Want to give it a shot and help test the program? Go to http://tinyurl.com/merbird2. “Users start by uploading a photo that they snapped of the bird in question,” Gizmag says, “drawing a box around the animal to help the software find it, and then clicking on its bill, eye and tail to establish its orientation. They also indicate where and when they saw it.” And that’s it. The software then presents matches from its database of 400 North American birds. Pretty nifty.

— Elleda Wilson