Comparison of NA bird apps for iPhone (1 Viewer)

[jedigrant]

Here's a list and comparison of iPhone bird apps for North America.

I've just updated it to include the Sibley app which was recently released. I really can't decide whether I like Sibley or iBird better. They both have strengths, so I guess it depends on what you're looking for in an app.

Also, here's a full review of iBird PRO, and one for Sibley is forthcoming.

 

[Lisa W]

haven't seen the Sibley, will have to go and take a look. I started with iBird Plus and just upgraded recently to the Pro, I really like it - a lot.

 

[Tero]

Sibley's runs 30 dollars, not sure of the others.

 

[jedigrant]

Review of the Sibley eGuide iPhone app

Here is the previously promised review:
Review of The Sibley eGuide iPhone app

On the plus side, the app contains just about everything from the three printed Sibley guides (the "big" one, plus the two regional). But the navigation, filtering, and other features are pretty basic (except for the compare feature, that works pretty well). Basically, if you could combine the Sibley and iBird apps, you'd have the perfect field guide app.

 

[Tero]

I will get the Sibley, but I need the ipod first, not till 2 weeks. It does have the songs, right?

 

[Tero]

OK, now have Sibley. I will just use the taxonomic order, so that is fine. Bird pictures scroll up and down for each bird. The range map cannot be expanded iPod style with two fingers, to see more detail.

All in all, good value for 30 dollars.

 

[birder2010]

Hi, is it possible to do a review of apps for the British Isles? For example Birdguides, or Twitcher etc.

Thanks

 

[Tero]

Back to Sibley. I noticed that it only shows the birds of the state you are in. So if you study bird song before a trip, put in the state you plan to visit and review the birds.

 

[jedigrant]

Back to Sibley. I noticed that it only shows the birds of the state you are in. So if you study bird song before a trip, put in the state you plan to visit and review the birds.

That's a good way to narrow down the list, especially if you're going to be studying for a trip. But you don't have to select anything for My Location. That way, it will default to the entire list.

On another note, an update to the Sibley app was released recently (version 1.5). They made some great changes in regard to the size of the art. You can now expand the art to full screen by tapping on it. And rotating the device to landscape mode will make it enlarge even more. You still can't zoom in on the image by doing the finger pinching thing, but this is still very welcome, and very needed. You can also enlarge the maps this way (except they won't rotate to landscape, which isn't as big of a deal for them).

They also added some more sounds, but there is a problem for each species they updated. Either the sound button isn't active (grayed out), or pressing it will crash and quit the app. Hopefully they fix this soon.

 

[jedigrant]

Hi, is it possible to do a review of apps for the British Isles? For example Birdguides, or Twitcher etc.

Thanks

I don't have much expertise when it comes to European birds, but I can try to at least put together a page summarizing all of the available apps.

If anyone already has done such a thing, though, I'd love to link to it.

 

[jedigrant]

There were a couple of issues with Sibley version 1.5 - the updated sounds sometimes didn't play, and the illustrations were switched for Baltimore and Bullock's Orioles. An update to fix these will be released in the next few days. But in the meantime, if you have an issue with the sounds, uninstall and reinstall the app. I've done it, and it worked for me.

That said, the larger images are a great feature. They will really improve the app's usefulness. There are still plenty of more features that need to be enhanced (especially the sorting/filtering), but it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Tero]

I happen to have all the songs as mp3s, so it is great to have ALL of them available. When I play them on the song player, I just leave the song on pause, lock it and it does not burn up power with the display. Two clicks and I am back to the same bird.

My songs are the standard Cornell ones, I got them from a software
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna
if you are a member I guess you can work with that.

In any case, I always prefer the Cornell songs to SIbley, they sound right. Sibley gives several locations for songs.

 

[Mr Patience]

Does anyone know if the units can be changed to metric on the Sibley app? I can't cope with ounzes / inches any more. The rest of the world uses metric but N American publishers seem to stick to the old imperial measures.