Can you export your Merlin life list? Yes. If you save birds in Merlin while signed in with your Cornell Lab account, they go to your eBird account, so they come with eBird's Download My Data file. That one spreadsheet holds every bird you've saved, with its date and place, and Birdfolio can turn that file into a hardcover book.
Merlin Bird ID is the free bird ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which also runs eBird, the Lab's website for bird sightings. The two share one account, and that's what makes the steps below work.
Key facts
- In Merlin, you save a bird by tapping This is my bird!, then confirming the date and place and tapping Save. You need a phone signal or Wi-Fi to save.
- Your Merlin life list also shows the birds on your eBird checklists.
- eBird's help says the birds you save in Merlin stay private unless you share them, and that you can edit or delete them in your account at eBird.org.
- One free Cornell Lab account works for eBird and Merlin, so you don't need a second one.
- Download My Data, in My eBird, gives you a spreadsheet of all your personal eBird records.
- We tested it on October 3, 2026: birds saved in Merlin, signed in with the same account as eBird, came through in the eBird download.
Facts checked: October 3, 2026.
Step by step
1. Sign in to Merlin with your eBird account
In the Merlin app, sign in with the same Cornell Lab account you use for eBird. eBird's help says a Cornell Lab account works across the Lab's projects, Merlin included. If you have never used eBird, the account you made for Merlin already works there.
From then on, each time Merlin helps you identify a bird you're sure of, tap This is my bird!, confirm the date and place, and tap Save. You can save the same species again each time you see it.
Saved some birds before you signed in? The Merlin help pages we read don't say whether those move over to eBird, so check in step 2.
2. Check that your birds are in eBird
On a computer, sign in at ebird.org, open My eBird and click your total number of species. That's your Life List, and your Merlin birds should be on it. eBird's help page on Merlin points to this same list when you want to change or delete a saved bird. On a phone, eBird's help says to tap Manage first.
3. Download your eBird data
In My eBird, click Download My Data, then Request My Observations. eBird emails you a link to a .zip file. Inside is MyEBirdData.csv, one spreadsheet with your eBird checklists and your saved Merlin birds together. Our guide shows each screen: how to download your eBird data.
No email? Give it time, then look in your spam folder.
4. Turn it into a book
Open Make your Birdfolio and drop in the .zip as it is, or the MyEBirdData.csv inside. You see your species count and the first pages of your book free, before you pay anything.
A Birdfolio is a hardcover, 8.5 × 11 inches, with a classic painting or a credited photo for every species and the date and place you first saw it. Prices start at $79, US shipping included. Orders open November 1, 2026, for US addresses only. Page through a Birdfolio to see one.
Not signed in, or birds missing?
If Merlin is your only list, you can type it instead. On Make your Birdfolio, use the Or paste a list box. Put one bird per line: the name first, then the date you first saw it after a comma, and the place if you know it. For example: Hermit Thrush, 5/12/1990, Vermont. The name alone is enough, but the date and place go into your book. For a long list, our guide to typing up a paper list has tips.
If you have an eBird download and only a few birds are missing, add them in eBird, then download your data again. eBird's help explains how to enter older sightings, even a whole life list on one "list-building" checklist; you need at least the country for each bird. Make your Birdfolio reads your files or a typed list, not both at once, so it's simplest to keep everything in eBird.
Questions people ask
Can I export my list from the Merlin app itself?
The way to get your Merlin birds out is through eBird: the birds you save go to your eBird account, and Download My Data includes them. The Merlin help pages we read don't describe a separate export. That file also makes a good backup: here's how to back up your birding records.
Do I have to use eBird?
Not for your birding. You can keep identifying and saving birds in Merlin. You only visit ebird.org to check your list and download the file, with the same account you use in Merlin.
Will other people see my Merlin birds?
Not unless you share them. eBird's help says the birds you save in Merlin, with their dates and places, stay private unless you choose to share them. They're also left out of eBird's public maps and alerts.
I saved the same bird many times. Will it show up many times in my book?
No. Your download has a row for every time you saved a bird, but a life list counts each species once. Your book shows each species once, with the first date and place you saw it. New to the words? Here's what a life list is.
Birdfolio is not affiliated with eBird, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or iNaturalist.