iBird Explorer

iBird Explorer is one of the digital field guides that are now available. It is available for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices. There are several versions available, ranging from basic to super deluxe (I’ll talk more about these later). The version I’m reviewing is the iBird PRO (the super deluxe one), running on an iPhone 3GS.

Species Accounts

The heart of any field guide, printed or digital, is the species accounts. iBird contains 924 accounts, covering the birds of the United States (including Hawaii) and Canada. Each account includes:

• Bird – this first screen has one or more paintings of the bird and a brief description
• Range – map showing breeding, non-breeding, year-round, and migration ranges; text summarizing the range and habitat preferences
• Identity – detailed description and biological information
• Photos
• Sounds – one or more sound clips; a phonetic rendering; list of similar sounding birds
• Similar – list of similar birds to allow for a quick comparison
• Facts – interesting behavior and other facts
• Birdipedia – detailed information and external links (requires internet connection)
• Notes – you can add your own notes and observations here
• Ecology – conservation info
• Flickr – searches the Flickr website for photos of the species (requires internet connection)
• Family – information on the taxonomy, habits, etc of the family as a whole
• Portrait – an enlargeable version of the bird’s primary illustration

There is a lot of information in these accounts, much more than traditional field guides. Want to know how many eggs a Gray Vireo lays? You can find it here with just a couple of taps and swipes of a finger. Chances are, most anything you want to know about the bird can be found here. And you could easily kill a ton of time just reading through the “Interesting Facts”. They live up to the title.

Illustrations

Each bird has one or more paintings on the main screen. Most of these show the bird both perched/standing and in flight. This is only the second guide, after Sibley, to show most of the songbirds in flight.

My reaction to the art ranged from eh to wow. The vast majority are at least serviceable, but not up to the standards of the major field guides like Sibley, National Geographic, and Peterson. A few are fantastic. The Northern Cardinals work as both field guide illustrations and works of art. And I still can’t tell if the Crescent-chested Warbler illustration is a painting, a photograph, or some mix between the two. But whatever it is, it is amazing.

On the other hand, I don’t even recognize some of these birds. When I saw the Field Sparrow, I immediately thought of Alexander Wilson. That’s not a good thing (this Audubon contemporary drew birds ok for the time, but definitely not up to today’s standards).

The number of illustrations is still somewhat limited, with most species having only one. That means for many species that have different plumages (based on age, gender, season, subspecies, etc), only one of them is shown, usually the male. However, the inclusion of photographs greatly reduces the impact this has on the user.

Multiple photos are included for most birds. They are sized so that each one fills the available real estate on the screen, and they look great on the device.

Between the paintings and photos, most plumages are illustrated. As expected, extremely variable groups like raptors and gulls have a much smaller percentage of plumages represented. But that’s the case with most general field guides. However, there are some plumages missing that are really surprising. The only Cerulean and Chestnut-sided Warblers shown are breeding males (that includes both the illustration and photo sections). Additionally, the Red Fox Sparrow is the only one of that complex shown.

Sounds

Almost every species includes one vocalization, which is played when you tap the sounds tab on the account page. Where appropriate, there is also a list of similar sounding birds that you can play from the same screen, making direct comparisons very easy. Lastly, a description or phonetic text of the sound is given.

Playing a bird’s vocalizations from within a field guide is obviously useful, though having just one sound each is very limiting. However, the editors are now adding more sounds per bird through software updates. I don’t know if the sound selection will ever be extensive enough to make any other sound collection on your device obsolete, but it certainly has that potential.

You can also play a random song by giving the device a shake. You can use that feature to give yourself a quiz.

Navigation

This is where the app really shines. If you know the name of the bird you want to look up, or just want to browse through the species, then the Browse screen is for you. You can browse by either species or family. Species can be sorted alphabetically by first or last name, and families either alphabetically or taxonomically. Or you can use the search box and look for a species by common name, latin name, or band code.

But what if you don’t know the name of the bird you want to find? You’ve just seen something new and are not sure what it was. In that case, switch to the Search tab. Here you will find 33 different criteria that you can use to filter 900+ birds down to a manageable few. Everything from location to primary color to cere color is included.

Issues

No field guide is without mistakes, and this is no exception. I’ve found mistakes in range maps (wrong color used for American Dipper), illustrations that had some weird colors, and species’ attributes set incorrectly (which affects the search functions). But the difference between this and print guides is that this one can easily be updated. If you find an error, report it. I’ve done so and the email response from an editor came back ridiculously quick. They are constantly releasing updates to address issues and add new features.

Updates

This is one of the primary advantages for digital field guides. iBird has had several updates recently, fixing bugs and adding features, paintings, photos, sounds, and even new species. When a new update is available, users can easily install it using iTunes. And to make a good thing even better, these updates are free.

Recommendation

So will digital field guides make print versions obsolete? Before using iBird, I would have thought not. But now, I’m not so sure. I don’t see reference books going away anytime soon; I still find it much easier to learn the birds and their field marks using a printed guide. Here I’m thinking of guides such as the “big” Sibley and hardcover Collins guide. But I can see how field guides as identification tools, especially in the field, may evolve into the digital realm. iBird could certainly be your primary field guide today.

I would recommend iBird to most birders with an iPhone or iPod Touch (heck, it may be worth getting one just to have this app). It is one of the best iPhone bird guide apps, and the people behind this project have shown a commitment to continuous improvement. The main issues I have with the app (missing and sub-par illustrations) are being incrementally rectified with each update. And there is so much that you can do with it now. Having a field guide – actually, make that a field guide, sound collection, and natural history reference – that you can have with you everywhere is just incredible.

Which version?

Ok, so you’re interested in iBird. Now you just have to decide which version you want. Here are the currently available versions, with the number of birds included and the price (subject to change):

• iBird Explorer Lite (30) – Free
• iBird Backyard Plus (234) – $4.99
• iBird Explorer Western (828) – $9.99
• iBird Explorer North (537) – $9.99
• iBird Explorer South (747) – $9.99
• iBird Explorer Midwest (585) – $9.99
• iBird Explorer Canada (685) – $9.99
• iBird Explorer Plus (924) – $19.99
• iBird Explorer PRO (924) – $29.99

I think most birders will want the Plus or PRO versions. Check out the extra features of the PRO version to see if it’s worth the extra money to you. If you’re not sure, go with Plus. If you later decide you want more, you can upgrade from Plus to Pro for $10.

If you’d like insight into the creation of this app, check out the This Birding Life podcast, episode 20. It features a revealing interview with the app’s creator.