Circle to Search is my favorite tool for identifying the birds and the bees

Every feature addition that Google makes to Android and its other products always seems to funnel me back to the company’s original purpose: search. As its name suggests, Circle to Search is one very obvious example. Long-pressing the home button to pull up a search dialog that trawls the internet for content you’ve highlighted on your screen is as convenient as it is useful, but not perhaps in the way Google intended. Marketing material pitches Circle to Search as a tool for finding products to purchase in shows and other visual media. However, I’ve found a far more natural use for it (pun intended).

I’m an avid nature lover, and thrive on learning about new species I encounter on my travels. I have specific identification apps on my phone for identifying birds and plants based on images. However, they’re often slow to trigger and cumbersome, demanding too many seconds to activate or a still snapshot before my subject inevitably flies away. These tools are undoubtedly useful for shots that are already stored on my device, but they largely fail to suffice in the moment.

I recently spent a wonderful weekend in a rural town with abundant avian life. I was tired of birds constantly evading my lens and decided to give Circle to Search a go. Using my phone camera’s viewfinder, I triggered the tool and tapped on a bird I’d seen before but whose name I had forgotten. As I wasn’t taking a picture, merely triggering the feature when the subject is on my screen, this two-step process took far less time than framing the shot, capturing it, and then heading back into my gallery. I don’t want to capture everything I encounter. To my surprise, Circle to Search helpfully refreshed my memory. The shy friend was a southern double-collared sunbird.

Thanks to their vivid plumage, these birds are a little more distinctive and, therefore, presumably easier to identify. What about a more visually obscure species? I tried zooming in on a duskier red-eyed dove on a relatively dark day with the bird’s trademark maroon eyeliner barely visible. Circle to Search identified it without issue.

I’ve compared Circle to Search and my bird identification apps using an older photo to see how accurate Google’s tool is. The shot (above left) is, honestly, terrible. I used my P30 Pro’s zoom lens on a particularly windy day, so the bird is largely out of focus. Color accuracy also leaves lots to be desired. Nevertheless, I ran the shot through Picture Bird — my preferred tool at present — which suggested it’s a Malachite sunbird. What about Circle to Search? I got the same result, and it took far less time.

Beyond wildlife, Circle to Search is also useful as a plant identification tool, especially when the plants in question offer distinguishable features. It helped me ID an apricot tree based on its leaf shape and growth pattern, a more tell-tale granadilla vine based on the passion flower, and a less distinctive narrow-leaved ash tree. That’s not to say Circle to Search is flawless, though. It rather hilariously identified a lemon tree as a magnolia. Clearly, while it’s mostly accurate, you will want to use discretion and double-check any results you aren’t convinced are accurate.

Circle to Search isn’t the only Google product that’s great for identifying wildlife. Gemini is perhaps the best alternative, especially if you want to save your chats to keep a record of your discoveries. It’s easy to import an existing photo into a Gemini chat and ask the bot about the bird or plant in frame. I appreciate the additional information it provides about the subject and the detailed breakdown of the thought process that led it to the conclusion. However, Gemini falters in several ways. It’s far slower than dedicated apps and even Circle to Search itself. The tool also requires a crystal clear shot of the bird or plant. For now, I think Circle to Search is the better option, at least for me.

Since its launch, I’ve used Circle to Search in various ways, but identifying the plant and animal life that inhabit our world is perhaps the most rewarding. Do you use Circle to Search to identify wildlife? I’d love to hear your alternative uses for this nifty tool.