One could say BirdNet is the "pro" tool. Merlin uses much of the same sound database and AI but as you've seen - is automated - set it recording and it will mark every bird sound it can hear and identify.

Another good one is SongSleuth[1] - recently recommended to me by Nathan Pieplow because it has a "pre-record" buffer so you can hit record as or immediately after you hear a bird and it captures a few seconds before that instead of having to run Merlin continuously waiting for the bird to call next.

[1] http://www.songsleuth.com/

[2] https://earbirding.com/blog/author