“Audubon is the only one of these apps to exclusively use photos for illustrations. They’re nice and work pretty well. But I don’t particularly like the interface (the design and, especially, slow response). The biggest plus this app offers is the hook into eBird for finding birds, which is especially useful if you don’t have the BirdsEye app. (I think BirdsEye does this slightly better than the Audubon app, but is more expensive and obviously doesn’t also come with a field guide!) Overall, the Audubon app is an acceptable field app, especially for those who prefer photos to drawings.”
iPhone Bird Guide Comparison
December 15, 2009
Grant McCreary (The Birder’s Library)
Publisher’s Description:
The best field guide for birding! Nothing beats Audubon mobile field guides! With over 1 million downloads, they are the most trusted authoritative field guide collection in North America—now for FREE! The award-winning Audubon Birds of North America, the go-to mobile field guide resource, has been completely updated to the latest standards. Now with bird descriptions and data from America’s premier avian expert, Kenn Kaufman. Also offers “Find Birds with eBird” powered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; 808 total species; advanced gallery view for easy comparison and search; field mark call outs; and NatureShare – a social community of birders who observe, identify, and share their observations and photos in the mobile app and online.
Key Features
- Identify 808 species with in-depth descriptions including information on appearance, habitat, behavior, and more
- Over 3,200 images from the world-renowned VIREO, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University’s world-wide collection of bird photography.
- Eight hours of the most exceptional, highest quality bird sounds.
- Robust seasonal and migratory range maps.
- Browse species in a gallery view and filter by shape, region and color, aiding quick identification.
- Find Birds with eBird – the ability to locate birds seen recently around you, drawing on the continuously updated database from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s eBird.
- Create a Personal Nature Account – post, keep lists, and share sightings with friends and followers on NatureShare and Facebook or via email with an easy and user-friendly interface.
What People are Saying:
“Now every birder can have the equivalent of a rare bird alert and comprehensive field guide wrapped into a single mobile app.” – Gary Langham, vice president and chief scientist for Audubon
“Instead of the hefty field guides, the apps give the nature photographer a very portable and lightweight library of natural history information.”– Jim Clark, Outdoor Photographer Magazine AppPicker (“Best of” Lists, Jan 2013)
“Audubon Birds…largely regarded as the best bird watching app…” 2011 APPY Award Finalist
About us:
The Audubon mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. Through its education, science and public policy initiatives, Audubon engages people throughout the U.S. and Latin America in conservation. Audubon’s Centers, and its sanctuaries and education programs are developing the next generation of conservation leaders by providing opportunities for families, students, teachers and others to learn about and enjoy the natural world. The science program is focused on connecting people with nature through projects like Audubon at Home and Great Backyard Bird Count. Audubon’s volunteer Citizen Scientists participate in research and conservation action in a variety of ways, from monitoring bird populations and restoring critical wildlife habitat to implementing healthy habitat conservation practices.
Product Feature Highlights
- Find Birds with eBird to locate birds in real time, see recent sightings and locations of notable and rare birds, and maps and directions to birding hotspots across North America.
- Field Mark Diagrams for over 650 images to help with field identification
- Thousands of high definition images detail each species with extraordinary clarity. Includes multiple images of each species in their natural habitat by gender, age, and seasonal plumage variations
- Over eight hours of audio from the best audio field naturalists in North America
- Track and annotate your personal sightings by location, post to the NatureShare community, and share with friends by email or Facebook.
- Explore John J. Audubon’s seminal ‘Birds of America’, tips on birding, birding trails, and taking better smartphone photos, and local Audubon resources near you.
- Optimized for Amazon device compatibility.