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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

world list apps (1 Viewer)

steveMc said:
Sorry to hear this! Have you contacted our support group lately? I did a quick search and see no outstanding defect reports regarding instability of the current version of SWIFT. So it's possible you are running an older version? v2.0 build 005 is the current version with build 006 in final testing and soon to be released.

Be interested to hear more about the instability if you are willing to PM me!

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...

I was running 2.0 Build 003, In the process of upgrading to Build 005. Maybe it will fix my issues. I was checking the Swift website for upgrades (not the software as it was too unstable to use) but it always generates a "Runtime Error" http://www.swiftbirder.com/%28S%28ctymnq3acz4y3kk0wnbyg2iy%29%29/versionupdates.aspx. So I was under the impression the web site was not actively being managed.
 
two additions while I'm here:

I use observado.org (it is better in every aspect than ebird) on-line. There is a free app, so you can log sightings during your birding and whenever you have wifi, it will be uploaded.

I use willybase offline. Excellent for trip reports and world birding, and always up-to-date. Free ofcourse!
 
temmie said:
two additions while I'm here:

I use observado.org (it is better in every aspect than ebird) on-line. There is a free app, so you can log sightings during your birding and whenever you have wifi, it will be uploaded.

I use willybase offline. Excellent for trip reports and world birding, and always up-to-date. Free ofcourse!
Click to expand...

2 I have not checked out yet.

Thanks!
 
temmie said:
I use observado.org (it is better in every aspect than ebird) on-line.
Click to expand...

It might be if you are from Belgium or the Netherlands, but I doubt that statement is otherwise supportable when it comes to recording bird observations. Just glancing at the site, I note the help forum is mostly in dutch (not a widely spoken language) and there is only one language option for English (eBird has 11 different options for English common names). I've also found the site not as easy to navigate as eBird for accessing data summaries. It's one big advantage is allowing the entry of sightings of non-avian species. If that's your bag, then there's also another site for that: inaturalist.org.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not knocking the site, and I hope all these sites become integrated in the long run, so it's easy to access all the data at once. But I don't think there's much to be gained by pitting one site against another.
 
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Jim M. said:
It might be if you are from Belgium or the Netherlands, but I doubt that statement is otherwise supportable when it comes to recording bird observations. Just glancing at the site, I note the help forum is mostly in dutch (not a widely spoken language) and there is only one language option for English (eBird has 11 different options for English common names). I've also found the site not as easy to navigate as eBird for accessing data summaries. It's one big advantage is allowing the entry of sightings of non-avian species. If that's your bag, then there's also another site for that: inaturalist.org.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not knocking the site, and I hope all these sites become integrated in the long run, so it's easy to access all the data at once. But I don't think there's much to be gained by pitting one site against another.
Click to expand...

I agree! In the end, I would like to see all of the big ones merge into 1 solid platform (wishful thinking?).

I have no agenda in praising observado or in criticizing any other site like bird. I just think it's a better tool for the trade... But as you said, probably only for dutch speaking persons...Data summaries are easy to run, but probably the somewhat-steeper learning curve puts people off...
 
Temmie, have you any comparison of willybase with either Scythebill or birdbase?

If you do, what are the differences? Can willybase import from birdbase and/or ebird?

Niels
 
short about willybase:

it's nothing more-or-less than an interface with a database file behind it.
It can neatly filter all kinds of stuff, has bird lists for countries but also for US states, Indonesian islands etc.
It can filter CR, EN, NT, and other red-list categories, as well as range-restricted and endemic species.
It can export lists for trip reports in html and xls, and lists of filtered birds (e.g. birds you haven't seen in a country, or birds you haven't seen in the world, etc).

It gets more fun if you have all your data in there (it's not much fun to start manually importing from scratch, especially if you already have a big list somewhere else).
So in order to check if you can quickly get it running with your data, I will upload a small .pdf tutorial about the willybase import process.

I actually haven't managed to get Scythebill to work on my mac, but that's due to my short time I invested in getting it up and running... I'll try again to make the comparison complete!

(give me some days)
 
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awiner said:
As others have noted, Scythebill does offer full import support for Avisys and Birdbase exports (as well as eBird, observado.org, and waarneming.nl). And, being 100% free (for real, unlike others that claim to be "the only full-featured free bird listing software", yet have a Purchase link on the same page?), what have you got to lose?

As always, any problems, let me know. (And HantaYo - if you can, do send me a note with any improvements you have in mind.)
Click to expand...
Since that quote you included is word-for-word from our website, I feel a response is in order. Our model at SWIFT has always been to offer fully-featured, commercially-viable software for good value to the customer. To that end, SWIFT is the most affordable commercial software (currently priced at $79 USD) and includes many features that are not even offered in much higher priced birding software currently on the market. The free software we are referring to is our 'Life List' edition of SWIFT which is offered absolutely free right on the front page of our website. We are upfront with the Life List edition being free, with no time limit and with the differences between it and the paid Premium Edition.

The Life List edition and its users benefit from getting many of the new features/fixes that are constantly being added to the commercial SWIFT Premium Edition, and they get them at absolutely no cost. It is not a 'stripped down' version of software as many free programs are, this edition is a good first step for many birders who aren't sure they want to use birding software so this gives them a low-risk alternative. It also is not one of the many hobbyist programs we have seen that didn't exist last year and may not next year.

We have users who have used SWIFT for well over 10 years and who feel secure in storing their birding records and photos in a program that has been there for many years and has been continually supported by our, if I may say so, top-notch team here.

Steve
 
Steve, my gripe is that the sentence is inherently inaccurate.

Either you'd accept that there are other full-featured and free bird-listing software packages on the market, in which case you should strike "only", or you've conveniently defined "full-featured" in such a way to exclude the other free software packages (despite including features you do not in your free version, like eBird export).

I'm thrilled there's a diversity of commercial software available for users. But I do believe in making accurate statements.
 
Ok, I can understand that. We'll revisit the wording. To be honest, it has been there for so many years none of us can exactly recall when it was put up. The original intent of it, and I believe this is still true today, is SWIFT is the only commercial birding software that offers a separate 100% FREE version for as long as you want to use it. No limited time, no limited species, etc... It's not stripped down but is a solid software application standing on its own.

Interestingly, we DON'T consider the lack of an eBird export to be a key missing feature in the Life List Edition. We have a large user group at SWIFT and are always surprised how low the eBird functionality ranks among our users when we survey them about planned upcoming changes. As in, they want us to add features to EVERY other part of SWIFT before the eBird screen is tweaked/improved. I suppose folks more likely use online tools like eBird or 'local' tools on their computers, like SWIFT. Be interesting to know the percentage of our users who use the eBird export.

Steve
 
Steve,
I have for a number of years used Birdbase without a true ebird export tool. Now that I am looking to switch, that functionality is one key aspect of what I am looking for.

Niels
 
njlarsen said:
Steve,
I have for a number of years used Birdbase without a true ebird export tool. Now that I am looking to switch, that functionality is one key aspect of what I am looking for.

Niels
Click to expand...
Hi Niels,

Just so I understand correctly, are you referring to an export of your birding records TO eBird? Or an export of your eBird records into your birding software?

SWIFT can easily accomplish both, just wanted to clarify which direction you wish the records to go.

Thanks,
Steve
 
Preferably both. I may enter observations in the field using for example an iOS app into ebird, or I may enter observations at home into a local database for upload to ebird.

Are those two functionalities both available in the free version, or is it limited to the paid version? And how about an import utility from Birdbase?

Niels
 
One of those is available in the free edition; you can import your sightings into the Life List edition. Either as a one-time (large) import of your records when switching from other software -or- as ongoing imports from sources like eBird. The import utility in SWIFT is not specific to other software, instead it relies on a more generic method; as long as the file is exported in a standard format (.CSV) and contains at a minimum, the scientific name of the species being imported. Of course you can also provide additional fields. More information on the import process is available in our online help:

http://www.swiftbirder.com/help/frmImport.html

The export to eBird process as I mentioned above is only in the Premium Edition of SWIFT but we are definitely going to ask our user group their thoughts on including it in the Life List edition. This thread has brought the issue back up here and since our user group usually doesn't put a lot of emphasis on it, perhaps it is best offered in both editions.

Hope that helps.

Steve
 
HantaYo said:
I was running 2.0 Build 003, In the process of upgrading to Build 005. Maybe it will fix my issues. I was checking the Swift website for upgrades (not the software as it was too unstable to use) but it always generates a "Runtime Error" http://www.swiftbirder.com/%28S%28ctymnq3acz4y3kk0wnbyg2iy%29%29/versionupdates.aspx. So I was under the impression the web site was not actively being managed.
Click to expand...

Up and running with Swift version 2 build 5! Now I just need to choose which listing program to use:

Lets see, Birder's Diary, Bird Brain, Swift, Bird Journal, Scythebill :eek!:

I found the web based programs too slow for my needs and I am very leery of cloud only applications.
 
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I am (slowly, or better: without too much effort or time) learning Scythebill, and it looks very OK. But then again, I am a mac user, and choices are less...
 
Have you looked at Bird Brain or Bird Journal? Bird Brain runs native on Mac and Bird Journal is currently a windows program but a Mac version is being developed. Bird Journal Mac version has been released for Beta; likely the Mac version could be released soon.
 
I'll take a look at it; but it has to be:
1. free ;-)
2. available for Mac
3. easy to import/export (I unfortunately don't have the time, and I don't want to spend time manually uploading my 10s of thousands of sightings)
 
temmie said:
I'll take a look at it; but it has to be:
1. free ;-)
2. available for Mac
3. easy to import/export (I unfortunately don't have the time, and I don't want to spend time manually uploading my 10s of thousands of sightings)
Click to expand...

Bird Brain and Bird Journal are not free. Scythebill might be your best option. Of all the listing apps, Scythebill has the most robust import capabilities. You can even only list the bird species without dates or location if that is only what you are after.
 
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