I didn’t notice the scarlet tanager until the alert appeared on my phone: “Merlin heard a new bird!”

Despite its brilliant plumage — jet-black wings on a crimson body — the songbird can be a hard one to spot in a forest because it prefers to stay high in the canopy. It sounds a little like a robin to an untrained ear.

But the free Merlin Bird ID app detected a scarlet tanager was likely nearby by using artificial intelligence to analyze my phone’s live sound recording. I paused my hike, quietly scanned the treetops, saw the bird as it kept singing and clicked a button to add the species to my growing “life list” of bird sightings. Digital confetti burst on my screen.

Like a real-world version of Pokemon Go, a gotta-catch-’em-all drive to add to my Merlin list has helped me find a great kiskadee in Mexico and a rusty-cheeked scimitar-babbler in the Himalayas. But sometimes the greatest revelations are close to home, as more AI nature app users are starting to discover.

“Our stereotypical demographic five years ago would have been retired people and already-avid birders,” said the Merlin app’s manager, Drew Weber, of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Now we’re seeing a lot of 20-and-30-year-olds posting stuff on their TikTok or Instagram.”

Are you a bird person now?

“Am I a bird person now? Am I a bird person now?” exclaims one incredulous TikTok user whose Merlin app detected a tufted titmouse, a cardinal and a Carolina wren within five seconds of her switching on the app.

Another video shows Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold gushing about the technology.

“That was a northern mockingbird,” says a smirking Darnold, then 27 and now 28, holding his phone up high while sitting in an outdoor lounge chair.

The app isn’t always perfect, and mockingbirds — because they mimic other bird sounds — can sometimes confuse the AI. Was that really a great horned owl that flew over your home and hooted while you left the app on record by the window screen? Maybe, maybe not.

“Low-frequency sounds can be challenging because there’s other low frequencies, like cars driving past, that can trick it,” Weber said.

Built-in computer vision technology on newer iPhones and Android devices makes it easier to identify plants and other creatures without having to download an app. Simply look at the flower you just photographed and — on iPhones — a leaf icon appears that, when clicked, can suggest the species.

But their AI accuracy isn’t always the best for more obscure fauna and insects — and they are missing the immersive community and citizen science experience that free apps like Merlin and the image-based iNaturalist offer.