Comparison of various bird guides (iPhone, Android, etc.)

This page provides a brief comparison of the various bird guides available for the iPhone, Android, etc. There is a link to another comparison site as well. Hope you find it helpful, I did.

BTW, the Peterson's is not $29.99 as listed on the following site....just purchased a copy for $9.99 off iTunes. Price is very good so downloaded the National Geographic one too.
http://www.birderslibrary.com/features/ ... arison.htm

http://ibird.com/compare.aspx

Thanks, it pretty much mirrors my feelings and is a fairly accurate representation.

I know many, if not most photographers use these apps for the purpose of calling in birds closer but I was thinking....there's this great app for the iPhone called Shazam. Cost only $5.00. The free version allows up to 5 ID's a month. What Shazam does is you hear a song being played...at Starbucks, Chapters, in a TV commercial, in your car, anywhere....press the Shazam app and it will return with the ID of the song. Amazing actually.

Each song has a signature and this app (the database service it sends the snippet to) will identify a song based on this signature. Works darn well for 90% of the stuff I want to identify. One of the best apps and $5.00 is a steal. So I was thinking....hey, someone could do this for identifying bird song too....maybe even via the Shazam service. Of course those who can bird by ear don't need this but for the majority of those who don't, what a cool service it would be.

http://www.news.wisc.edu/19882

but don't hold your breadth. It's easy for a computer to id a high signal:noise recording of ANY bird, it just gets tricky in the field with many other sources of noise, etc.

Great link Abe. A cool read. I hope they can make it work....at least, fairly well. It states that they're trying to get it ready for the 2012 migration. BTW, besides Shazam I heard there is another iPhone app that can try to identify a song just by listening to someone sing it (as opposed to a recording)....at least that's what I seem to recall reading quite soem time ago. I am not sure about this one.

I would add BirdTunes. Started with the Audubon app, but BirdTunes has two nice ways to manage the choices- Recents and Favorites. So, I can keep a short list of recent Warblers and Vireis, for instance, in a short list. Likewise, I can get back to those recent birds without going thru the entire browsing list. Audubon has the range maps, but I find that less useful than I expected. Recordings come from a group of birders associated with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and there is not better source for bird recordings.

Paul Schmitt

Well, it looks like we may finally get a "Shazam like" app to help identify bird calls. Doesn't work quite like Shazam as you still need to record the bird call first. Well, with Shazam it requires something similar as a snippet of the song is recorded and sent over the internet to a server for ID.  Because the Bird Genie app doesn't require server access the app will work even without an internet connection. It's a start and hopefully more calls (and variety of calls per species) will be added in future versions. Better than not having such an app for those who haven't memorized the various calls. At $2.99 I am getting one.  Due out Summer 2014. Found out about it first on the Birdchick's Facebook page.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10411.html

I am pretty audio dead (but hear well)...my best source is the local Audubon Society birds by ear walk with people telling what I am listening too.

This app will be right up your alley Mike. Use the app to ID the birds for you. Me, each and every season I have to reacquaint myself with the various bird songs and even then unless Iisten to a particular species for some time, I will forget. I mean if there is a certain bird and it is around for a few days I'll remember the song and be able to pick it out. But if that bird isn't seen for a few weeks I may have to refresh my memory. This app will be great for folks like me and you.

If you are serious about learning the calls & songs of birds, the best app is the Cornell Guide from the Macaulay Library. There are multiple entries for each species covering those important regional dialects. That is really important if you live away from the east or west coasts. The only downsides are the need to use iTunes as it creates folder with huge lists of songs and that you cannot use it if you hold your iPhone (4s at least) in landscape mode.  That would be useful as the song titles are long and you cannot see all in portrait.

I simply detest the Audubon guide for so many reasons.  Navigation is slow, too many steps and worst of all it always defaults to alphabetical order rather than taxonomy.  That might seem petty but every field guide is in taxonomic order so why is this not the default.  You also cannot loop individual songs.

After buying Birdtunes I deleted Audubon.  The former is easier to use, clean simple interface (no silly options about logging in like Audubon). It remembers exactly where you were, with quick access to the songs, one click to your recent and favorite lists.  I like that is gives you a sonogram and you can loop songs.

I see no difference in the quality of songs between Audubon and Birdtunes , with many being identical.

I'm waiting for the second edition of Sibley, not for the sounds but for the updated illustrations.  I'm not a fan of using photographs in a field guide despite there being many great images & photographers.

The combination of Sibley & Cornell will cover all your needs.

I'm sure we will have software that can identify a bird whether through bins or a camera.  What I want is an face recognition software for birds or at least a program that can try to ensure that the eye is in focus when you are focused elsewhere.

Just spent the last week along the upper Texas coast. Fabulous time although migration was poor.

Cheers,

Jim

To learn bird songs and calls, I would recommend the Larkwire Birdsong Master Birder app.
I used it before my trip to Ohio last year and it really helped me learning the songs of birds
I had never seen before. The quiz mode is fun and challenging.
http://blog.allaboutbirds.org/2013/12/0 ... ird-songs/