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Digital cameras, digital photo frames, eBook readers, it seems like the whole world is going digital these days. And now digital field guides are here. You can think of these as traditional field guides on steroids, yet even smaller.

You still get the regular stuff found in field guides: illustrations, range maps, basic identification and natural history information. But the format also allows for much more. You can play a bird’s song from within the field guide. Or access information that otherwise would have required cracking open another book or doing an internet search.

Aside from the portability, possibly the best thing about the medium is that it allows you to search for a bird in so many more ways. For instance, if you don’t know the name of a bird you want to look up, you don’t have to go looking through the accounts as you do in a printed guide. Just input some characteristics in the search function, and the guide will narrow down the possibilities for you.

There are now several digital field guides available to birders, mostly for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices. This is a brief comparison of those for North America.

Audubon Birds — A Field Guide to North American Birds

$4.99

Website

The Good

• Find birds with eBird (similar functionality to the BirdsEye app)
• Good selection of very nice photographs
• Great selection of sounds (essentially the same sounds as Sibley)
• Most migrants have a second map showing winter range

The Bad

• The interface is very slow compared to the other apps here
• Can’t browse species taxonomically
• Journal and list functions are confusing and not very useful

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.

iBird Pro Guide to Birds

$19.99

Website

The Good

• Includes both art and photographs
• Number of species included (926), and includes Hawaiian birds
• Includes a lot of interesting facts and natural history information
• Powerful search engine / filtering capabilities

The Bad

• Number of illustrations is very limited, with many only having one (females and immatures are often neglected). The photos, however, help make up for this
• Price
• Lack of sighting system/lists
• Quality of some illustrations is poor

iBird has been greatly improved since I first reviewed it, with added sounds along with new and improved illustrations. This is perhaps the best app for newer birders. However, the lack of variety in illustrations and relatively poor treatment of difficult-to-identify species means that it will be less useful to more advanced birders.

Note: there is now an iBird Ultimate version, which includes even more features.

Try out iBird for free with iBird Lite Guide to Birds, which includes 60 sample species.

Full Review of iBird Explorer app (Note: I need to update this review to include the latest app improvements)

National Geographic Birds: Field Guide to North America

$9.99

Website

The Good

• Number of species included (995, the most of any app)
• Great sound interface, including similar sounding species
• Includes more information – similar species, winter ranges, natural history, etc – than the field guide
• Extras such as quizzes and videos

The Bad

• The images are relatively small on the screen. You can zoom in, but since the size of the area dedicated to the image doesn’t change, it doesn’t help much. And the image quality doesn’t quite hold up when zoomed in. With the latest update, when you zoom in far enough it will show the image full-screen. And the image quality looks much better. It’s still an awkward operation, but at least you can do it now.
• List functionality has potential, but not really useful yet

The latest print edition of National Geographic Birds is a great field guide, but I was surprised to find that this app not only does justice to it (with the exception of the small images), but actually improves upon it in surprising ways. For instance, it not only gives a list of similar species, but also specific tips on how to differentiate them. And it does this for every bird, as far as I can tell. This, combined with a good selection of sounds (and a great interface for playing them), makes this app a useful one in the field.

Try out this NatGeo app for free with Birds Lite by National Geographic, which includes 70 sample species.

Peterson Birds of North America

$14.99

Website

The Good

• Great list feature that allows you to import/export lists
• Incorporates information from seven other books in the Peterson Field Guide series (including, for example, the entire text from Molt in North American Birds)
• Works and looks great on an iPad

The Bad

• Sounds – the worst selection (only one per species) and interface for playing them
• Interface doesn’t work as well on an iPhone

This app does a good job of presenting the Peterson field guide, as well as many other sources from the Peterson guide series, in a digital format. It makes a very good reference app on the iPad. And for the price (currently $4.99, though sometimes on sale for even cheaper), it’s a great deal. However, due to the limited sounds and the iPhone interface, I don’t think it works well as a field app.

There is also a Peterson Birds Pocket Edition app. For only $0.99, you get ALL the species of the full app, including all the field guide illustrations, sounds, maps, and species account text. But you lose some cool features, like the additional Peterson guide content and the list capabilities. This version is an incredible bargain.

Full Review of Peterson Birds of North America app

The Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America

$19.99

Website

The Good

• The best illustrations of any North American field guide (in my opinion), and includes the greatest number of illustrations per species
• Only app that allows you to compare portraits, sounds, and range maps of any two species on the same screen
• Great selection of sounds (essentially the same as Audubon), and a good interface for playing them

The Bad

• Price
• Filtering capabilities are relatively limited
• Lack of extras like natural history information, social media sharing, etc

I love always having my Sibley guide with me via this app. The print edition is still my favorite field guide, and this app is likewise the one I turn to first, even though it doesn’t have some of the information and features found in other apps. Basically, what you get is the contents of the print guide plus sounds, filtering, and list features. But the main content – the illustrations and sounds – are the best.

Try this app out for free with The Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America LITE, which includes 30 sample species.

Full Review of The Sibley eGuide app

So which one of these bird apps belongs on your device? It depends on how it will be used. For use in the field viewing images and playing sounds, I prefer the Sibley app. But Audubon and NatGeo also work in that regard, and each bring different feature sets that other apps don’t have. iBird is a little different, in that it may be the best app for beginners (easy to use, great filtering), but experienced birders will be frustrated by the lack of variation depicted. As a reference (especially on an iPad), NatGeo, iBird, and Peterson are great because of the extra information they include. Peterson, especially, contains a LOT of reference material, looks great on the iPad, and is an exceptional value.

For a more detailed comparison of features, here are a couple more resources. Robert Mortensen, of the Birding Is Fun! blog, has a useful Feature comparison table. Also, the folks at iBird have compiled an extensive comparison. (Keep in mind that one of the competing companies produced this table, and there are a few oversights/mistakes as of this writing. However, overall it appears very fair and objective to me.)

Finally, I wanted to mention that all of these apps, except iBird, feature some sort of listing capabilities. You could keep a life list or record sightings on them, but honestly, I don’t see why you would want to. None of them work very well for that. However, Peterson and NatGeo offer some additional listing capabilities that could prove very useful. In Peterson, you can create, import, and export various lists. You can think of them as analogous to playlists for mp3’s. NatGeo is more limited right now, as you’re limited to creating lists or using a few pre-packaged ones.

More Bird Apps

• Bird Listing Apps for iPhone – a similar comparison I’ve done for listing apps available for the iPhone
• BirdsEye – a bird-finding app utilizing eBird
• birdJam HeadsUp Warblers and HeadsUp Sparrows – warbler and sparrow-specific apps

I don’t normally post about things unrelated to bird books and other media. But sometimes an occasion or opportunity pops up that I just have to mention (like the recently created 10,000 Birds Conservation Club). This is such opportunity – after all, what birder wouldn’t want a free trip to Peru?

Gunnar Engblom of Kolibri Expeditions is indeed giving away multiple free birding trips to Peru. One of the reasons is obvious, he wants to generate publicity so that his trips fill up. But it goes much beyond that. The two itineraries included in this promotion (one to Manu, universally regarded as one of the best birding spots on the planet) were designed to bring eco-tourism to the native communities. Thus, the group stays in locally run lodges to promote a sustainable alternative to logging, mining, and oil exploitation. So, not only will you be seeing some fantastic birds, you will be helping to preserve their habitat at the same time.

So what do you need to do? Easy:

1. Sign up for the Kolibri Expeditions email newsletter.
2. Tell people about the contest. Blog about it (like I’m doing here), tweet it, post it on facebook, digg it, email your birding buddies, anything.

That’s basically it. But check out Gunnar’s post to get all the details:

Free Birding Trips to Peru

And even if you don’t participate (and why wouldn’t you?), check out Gunnar’s excellent blog. But then again, maybe you shouldn’t. Seeing all of those wonderful Peruvian birds is bound to change your mind and make you want to get to Peru as soon as possible!

I got a little behind with this. So here’s a nice, big list of bird book reviews from other sites.

If you’re reading this, I assume that you enjoy reading about birds. I certainly do, it’s why I started this site. But underlying that is a basic enjoyment of birds themselves. They bring alot of joy into my life. But the sad fact is that they’re in trouble. If we want to have birds around for ourselves and our children, then we need to actually do something.

But what can I do, you may be asking? There are specific things you can do, as well as great organizations you can join. And everyone who loves birds should do those things. But it can be hard to see how personal actions like recycling, and joining large conservation groups actually helps. It would be great if there was something we could do that has a tangible, demonstrative benefit for birds that really need our help.

The guys at the 10,000 Birds blog have created just such a thing – the 10,000 Birds Conservation Club. It costs $25 US (or the equivalent in another currency) per year, and that entire amount (minus necessary expenses – the founders aren’t keeping a dime for themselves) goes toward the conservation of threatened birds. The members can even help direct where the money is spent!

And if that wasn’t enough, they have also lined up some great giveaways available only to Conservation Club members. The first such giveaway is a set of all three Sound Approach books. All three are fantastic books that any birder would love. Honestly, if I didn’t already have them, I would have joined just to enter this contest!

And there will be more giveaways throughout the year. But it’s worth joining just for the fact that you know that your money is going directly to help threatened species, and that you will have a voice in how it is actually spent. I’ve already joined, and if you enjoy having birds around, you should consider it as well.

Some of you may have seen a cryptic post earlier today titled “Books for Beginning Birders”, but containing only some text saying “coming soon…”. Sorry about that, I was trying to get a shell of a page up quickly, and, well…it’s been a long day.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that it has been updated, and should be correct now. So, if you haven’t seen it, here are some Books for Beginning Birders.

When I got into birding, I jumped in with both feet. I wanted to find out what this birding thing was all about. But how? What comes after the binoculars and field guide?

As with most any pursuit, birders need knowledge and desire to progress beyond beginner status. The desire is the “easy” part – you have to want to get better, and be willing to put in the work to do so (and it does take work). But how do you get the knowledge? There is no substitute for field experience. But even so, you can only progress so far and so fast on your own. The help of a more experienced birder is crucial. Unfortunately, they’re not always around every time you need them! Thank goodness for the collected experience and wisdom available in books. Here are a few selections that will greatly aid beginners (or anyone, for that matter) in their quest to become a better birder.

• Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding
  Pete Dunne

  After binoculars and field guide, this is the next thing every prospective birder should have. Dunne provides many tips and suggestions, but more than anything else, he clearly introduces what this birding thing is all about, from birdfeeding to pelagic trips. As a bonus, you get all of this with the author’s trademark wit and humor. This is more than a treasure trove of information from one of our foremost birders, it’s also a fun read.

• The Complete Birder: A Guide to Better Birding
  Jack Connor

  Even though this is older and out-of-print, it’s worth tracking down. There is a little overlap with the other books, but also provides an overview of birding seasons and some difficult families like warblers and gulls. Personal anecdotes and lively writing keep this interesting.

• National Geographic Birding Essentials
  Jonathan Alderfer and Jon L. Dunn

  This covers more technical, but still crucial, topics than Dunne and Connor, such as the parts of a bird and molt. It is profusely illustrated with great color photos to exemplify the concepts.

• Sibley’s Birding Basics
  David Allen Sibley

  This is a great guide, but contrary to the title, I think intermediate and even advanced birders will get more out of this than beginners. If the rest of these books haven’t satiated your desire for birding know-how, then turn here next.

• Good Birders Don’t Wear White: 50 Tips From North America’s Top Birders
  Lisa White

  There are some good, helpful tips here. But the scattershot approach means that it isn’t very comprehensive. It’s worth a read, but preferably after one of the prior books. (Full Review)

• Birding
  Joseph Forshaw, Steve Howell, Terence Lindsey, Rich Stallcup

  I found a prior edition of this in a bookstore’s bargain book section just after I started birding. It was surprisingly helpful. The introduction to birding, including the tools and other items you will need, is really good. Not as in-depth as some of these other books, but I found myself referring to it often.

• Birding Lite: A Humorous How-to Guide for All Who Enjoy Watching Birds
  Stan Dryden

  A good option for those who are curious about bird watching or just getting into it. They will find the information required to get started presented in a fun, though shallow, manner. But if you’re already sure that birding is for you, then one of these other options will be more helpful, particularly Dunne or National Geographic. (Full Review)

For the most part, these books won’t help you identify a particular bird. But they will give you a firm foundation to make quicker and more accurate identifications. What’s more, they will help you better enjoy and get more out of the pursuit of bird watching.

My wife and I enjoy visiting the US National Parks. She enjoys photographing the outdoors, and the parks are a great place for that. And for me there are always birds. And as anyone who’s watched the Ken Burns’ documentary knows, the parks are just fantastic places.

When looking at a map of the parks across the country, it’s hard to avoid noticing the area of the Colorado Plateau, the region encompassing southern Utah, northern Arizona, and western Colorado. It stands out because there are seven national parks there, relatively close to each other. Proceeding counter-clockwise from the south, as we would be visiting them, they are Grand Canyon in Arizona; Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado; and Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion in Utah. Collectively, this route is known as the Grand Circle.