Sticky thread for best birding apps (2 Viewers)

[pbjosh]

At this point the market for birding apps for phones / tablets is starting to mature a bit it seems. There are a good number of apps that I'm aware of and use, but there are, I'm certain, a good number out there that I don't know about and don't use.

The best guides by region threads are tremendously useful. Having something similar for apps seems like it would be equally valuable.

By region, here are the best quality apps that I am aware of:

USA/Canada - Sibley, iBird Pro
Europe - Collins Bird Guide
Peru - Birds of Peru
South Africa - Robert's Multimedia Birds of SA

A second tier of more localized apps, photo based apps, and the like, includes these that I'm aware of:
Argentina - Aves Argentinas Guia de Campo Digital
Costa Rica - Birding Field Guides Costa Rica
Panama - Birding Field Guides Panama

There are also the Sunbird apps for Ecuador and Colombia but as they are based on Restall artwork I've not tried them yet.

What other great digital field guides and other apps are out there?

 

[DMW]

Great idea. Off the top of my head:

- Faansie Peacock's LBJs guide for southern Africa is superb.

- Morcombe & Stewart Guide to Birds of Australia is pretty good - can't claim it's the best Aussie bird app as I haven't used any others.

 

[pbjosh]

I don't see the Faansie Peacock / Chamberlain's guide to LBJs available as an app. I see it as an eBook but that's something quite different.

The Morcombe & Stewart Australia app looks first rate!

 

[Fritz73]

I like "Aves Vox" for bird songs

 

[Dan Miller]

In addition to several mentioned above, I also use eBird on a daily basis, and BirdsEye with regularity.

 

[Steve Babbs]

Birds of the Middle East
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coolideas.eproducts.birdsofmiddleeast&hl=en

South Africa
Sasol ebirds - superb
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coolideas.eproducts.ebirds

 

[pbjosh]

Alright I'll try to keep this list up to date somewhat then, based upon recommendations:

Bird Guide Apps - The Best of the Best
USA/Canada - Sibley, iBird Pro
Europe - Collins Bird Guide
Australia - Morcombe & Stewart Guide to Birds of Australia
Peru - Birds of Peru
South Africa - Robert's Multimedia Birds of SA -and- Sasol ebirds
Middle East - Birds of the Middle East

Bird Guide Apps - incomplete species content / photo based apps / etc
Argentina - Aves Argentinas Guia de Campo Digital
Costa Rica - Birding Field Guides Costa Rica
Panama - Birding Field Guides Panama

There are also the Sunbird apps for Ecuador and Colombia but as they are based on Restall artwork I've not tried them yet.

Non Field Guide Apps of great use
eBird
iObs (observation.org's app)
AvesVox
BirdsEye

What other great digital field guides and other apps are out there?

 

[pbjosh]

I like "Aves Vox" for bird songs

Is it possible to get Aves Vox to do something like, say, download the top N tracks for every space in a country or department or the like? So you have them for offline use?

 

[fugl]

For US/Canada, I’d add the Peterson “Birds of N.A.” app, far better in my opinion than any of the sloppily written and edited Waite apps, iBird Pro included.

 

[SteveClark]

Birds of East Africa - Stevenson and Fanshawe
Birds of Australia - Pizzey and Knight
iBird (UK)

Very few options for se Asia as far as I can see.

 

[Wimpy]

For Costa Rica, I can recommend

Costa Rica Birds Field Guide by Birding Field Guides

Great images, usually three per bird, maps and data and most have calls and sounds. There is a facility to enter your sitings. It also contains an excellent filter system with 11 entries to help filter. When we went to CR I took "The Birds of Costa Rica" by Garrigues and Dean and it stayed in the hotel. Out in the field, the app was a great benefit to me as I had no previous knowledge of the birds of CR.

There was a small charge for the app.

Check it out. Available for both IOS and Android.

http://birdingfieldguides.com/costarica.html

 

[pbjosh]

I've just finally updated my Sibley birds app to the new 2nd edition. In my opinion it is a worthwhile if not massive upgrade. The app itself functions better, it includes a few more species and some more art, but notably the text descriptions are updated, a bit more verbose, and presented in a better layout (broken out into habitat/voice/description instead of all run together). I wouldn't say it's going to help you ID any birds any better, but neither does the new edition of the print Sibley guide. However, the difference between the old and new app is perhaps even more notable than the difference between the old and new guide.

 

[pbjosh]

I've also just bought the new SASOL eBirds 5th edition. The app functions about as well as the old app, no major changes there, but there are more species, updated taxonomy, updated art for raptors and seabirds, and photos are included at no additional price. An initial look through the new seabird art and it's a dramatic upgrade. I've posted some comparison screenshots in this thread: https://www.birdforum.net/threads/sasol-guide-birds-of-southern-africa-5th-edition.403086/

 

[PlayFreeBird]

I have to give IBird Pro a thumbs-down.

I just started fooling around with it. I saw some Black Ducks recently and wanted to check exactly how they differed from female and eclipse Mallards. So I looked up the Mallard and...there is only one image, a very familiar male Mallard. The Sibley app, which I've just downloaded, has 20 separate illustrations for the Mallard. And it allows you to run the Black Duck illustrations side by side. No contest really.

The iBird search feature is more detailed than most (although I think all the apps do this wrong). I tried looking for ducks with yellow eyes and the results were good. Added my location, Massachusetts, and the Tufted Duck, Least Grebe, and Greater Scaup disappeared. Huh? I could understand (but not approve) if the Lesser Scaup disappeared as we are at the edge of its northern winter range, but the Greater Scaup is much more likely.

I'm not even sure I will keep it on the desktop.

 

[leonardo_simon]

Any views on Merlin Bird Id ? It’s free, has good pictures, bird packs cover a good range of countries and has recordings too

 

[njlarsen]

I use it occasionally to check a photo but I do not use it as a general app. Maybe I am overlooking something.
For checking images of birds I am more likely to use ebird.org/explore (when at a computer) -- this is free for registered users (and registration is also free). Both resources are related to Cornell lab for ornithology.
Niels

 

[Murray Lord]

The PNG field guide is available as an app with sounds now too - https://davidbishopbirdtours.com/2020/08/03/birds-of-new-guinea-app/

 

[Murray Lord]

A new Australian bird calls app has been published for both iOS and Android. It's called Stewart Australian Bird Calls. Recordings are by Dave Stewart, who also provided the calls on the Morecombe Australian app. However this is a more comprehensive collection, with the aim of including as many subspecies as possible, and all the different call types Dave has in his collection. So some species have over a dozen calls.

 

[brenjohn]

The PNG field guide is available as an app with sounds now too - Birds of New Guinea App - David Bishop

Interesting. How is it? How does it stack up to Phil Gregory's field guide to the birds of new guinea? Is it a substitute for a book? I usually don't mind carrying heavy books into the field, but if this could be a total substitute, I'd be interested.

 

[BogBean]

Ebird, ebird, and ebird!
The hotspots have illustrated checklists, and you can scroll thru the species.
Save them as offline pages on your phone browser and you have a pretty good basic field guide for the site.
You can do the same with your target species for the region, but I avoid this as it may steer you away from more common, similar species in the area that you have previously seen.