iBird Explorer PRO
By Mitch Waite Group
View More By This DeveloperOpen iTunes to buy and download apps.
Description
■ MACWORLD'S "BEST REFERENCE APP 2009"
■ VERSION 2.4 NOW AVAILABLE: compatible with OS3 and OS4, fixed missing states bug, OS4 version has multiple Favs and Notes which sync with iTunes.
■ See how 5 Bird apps stack up: iphone.ibird.com/compare.html
Finally, a field guide that’s as light as a feather.
iBird Explorer PRO is designed to satisfy the demanding needs of advanced birders and professional naturalists. It offers comprehensive identification, behavior, habitat and ecology information, twice as many search attributes as Plus, hand drawn illustrations, professional photographs, range maps and playable calls for 924 North American and Hawaiian bird species.
As an innovative field guide to birds for the iPhone and iPod touch, iBird Pro puts the equivalent of 4,000 pages of expert birding information at your fingertips in a self-contained ebook.
Special iOS4-only features:
■ Notes and Favorites now sync iTunes File Sharing.
■ You can have multiple Favorite lists and you can have multiple Notes by saving them in different folders.
Notable Features of all versions:
■ Location search has two attributes: Common for the most popular species in a state and Uncommon for rare and state listed birds.
■ Attributes are grouped into basic, head and flight related area.
■ 14 new search attributes including search by patterns, length, wingspan.
■ Updated state and province bird lists using official references.
■ Shake your device to automatically play a random bird song.
■ Taxonomic and Alphabetical family sort options on Browse screen.
Standard Features:
■ Parameter driven search lets you identify birds quickly, so you spend more time observing and less time reading. (includes date-based and song-based search)
■ Bird songs and calls, loud enough to bring the bird right to you (1)
■ Hand-drawn full sized color illustrations, with perching and flight views
■ Multiple professional photographs of most species, showing plumages, sexes and seasons
■ Extensive identification, behavior, and habitat information
■ Ecological status, shows if population is in decline or endangered
■ Full color range maps
■ Zoom and pinch bird portraits
■ Links to detailed Wiki pages and hundreds of Flickr photos for each bird
■ Bookmark birds as favorites for fast access
■ Species, common and family names in English, French and Spanish (text is English)
■ Lifetime updates to species information
iBird Pro uses a unique parametric search engine to help you identify birds quickly. Narrow down possible species by selecting from: location (state), month, shape, size, habitat, primary color, secondary color, backyard feeder status, family, bill shape, bill length, head pattern, crown color, wing shape, flight pattern, conservation status (ICUN Red List threat status), song and song pattern. Or search by keyword, Latin name and band code.
As a standalone iPhone app, iBird Pro does not require an Internet connection for access to the rich media information in its database. This does mean that the application is large, so please be patient when downloading from the iTunes app store.
Don’t need the top-of-the-line iBird Pro ebook? Try one of our other iBird Explorer apps. We have an interactive field guide that will fit your needs perfectly.
■ iBird Explorer 15 (free), iBird Explorer Backyard, iBird Explorer North, iBird Explorer South, iBird Explorer Midwest, iBird Explorer Western, iBird Explorer Canada, iBird Explorer Plus
For further product comparison information, please visit us at iBird.com
You can also keep up to date with fellow iBird users by following @iBirdExplorer on Twitter and by joining the iBird fan page on Facebook (search for iBird).
What's New In Version 2.4
Version 2.4
■ iBird Pro is now compatible with both OS3 and OS4.
■ Fixed OS4 missing states bug.
■ Fixed bug which kept iBird Pro from working on the iPad.
■ Notes and Favorites now sync with iTunes File Sharing (on the apps tab). You can have multiple Favorite lists, and you can have multiple Notes by saving them in different folders. No more "email all notes".
■ Now two Location attributes for searching: Common returns most popular birds in a location. Uncommon returns most popular, rare and birds on state lists. Mostly use Common but if you think a bird is rare use Uncommon.
■ iOS4 Users: Fixes missing states bug.
Customer Reviews
Great general information, not great field guide
Pros--Great to have all of this bird information and songs with you on your phone. Having all birds of North America a great plus. Some excellent photos and voice recordings.
Cons: Although this program has excellent potential as a bird guide, it really cannot replace the Sibley, Peterson, or National Geographics for the serious birder. For example IBird has excellent photos of Black-throated Green Warbler. One photo shows an immature bird without a black throat and yellow sides to the vent. This yellow on the sides of the vent is a most important field mark that separates immature Black-throated Green from Townsned's or Hermit immature. Although this yellow is clearly shown in the photo, without the knowledge that this is an important field mark for identity, most observers would not notice it. This field mark is not mentioned in the Identity description. So, the system of pointing out important field marks, pioneered by Peterson, and now used by National Geographic is extremely important for serious birders. Great birders know, what characteristics to look for immediately on sighting a bird. The excellent field guides teach this information. One must know what to look for that separates a similar species. So far this program ignores this crucial element of bird identification.
All That It Is Cracked Up to Be...A Retort
First, there are always going to be people that just aren't happy....with anything. I use the Peterson field guide and the Audubon field guide however I find I'm using this more often. The complaints about it not having photos of all the variants of a bird, from immature to adult, to color variants, is absurd. No guide has that. You can also submit your own photos to be added to the guide. As a result of this, more and more images are available with each update. The app does have a link to Flickr, where you will find dozens and dozens of photos. It has links to Birdipedia, which provides even more links to as much info as you desire. There is information on the Ecology of the bird, general facts, range, and identification.
And it has songs and calls. I have used this to "talk" to Great Horned Owls. Having songs and calls at your disposal is very nice indeed.
You can easily establish your own favorites list, examine similar birds, take notes and email those notes, hopefully in further releases the app will have the ability to take and imbed photos.
It is also fun to share sitings when you are with friends or meet other birders or folks who are just interested casually when you are out and about. It truly is a social app.
Is this the do all and end all? No, but it IS worth most of the hype and is so much better than the Audubon app which disappoints.
NOT ALL THAT IT IS CRACKED UP TO BE!
This is the second review I have done for this app, the first time I gave it the benefit of a doubt and gave it 3 stars. I am lowering it to 2 stars now. This app, for the most part is a useless piece of $30 crap. The images provided are so limited in scope and information so brief that it is for anyone who is serious at all about birding will find it useless and frustrating. I have owned it a couple of months now, and everytime I have used it I end up going to google for a decent image. For example, this morning I was waiting while my car was being washed and an unusual looking hawk flew over. I figuered it was a dark-phased red-tailed hawk. I opened my $30 app and there were absolutely no images or info on this phase of the bird. Google had images a plenty of dark phased red tails. So the question is, why do they call this program pro. If I find this program nearly useless, what would one of the really top notch birders think of it? My opinion, technology can do so much, this program though is limited by its own narrowness. Don't waste your money like I did.
THIS IS AN ADDENDUM TO THE REVIEW ABOVE: IF YOU ARE CHOOSING BETWEEN THIS APP AND SIBLEY, GET SIBLEY. FAR SUPERIOR AND EVERYTHING A BIRDING GUIDE SHOULD BE, ON AN IPHONE!
ADDENDUM #2: I AM NOT A COMPETITOR OR JEALOUS OF iBIRD AT ALL. JUST A SERIOUS BIRDER (25 YRS EXPERIENCE) LOOKING FOR A GOOD GUIDE. IBIRD IS OK, BUT LACKING. I ONLY SUGGEST SIBLEY IF YOU WANT THE BEST GUIDE AVAILABLE, IMHO.
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$29.99
- Category: Reference
- Updated:Jul 14, 2010
- Current Version:2.4
- 2.4 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
- 389 MB
- Language:English
- Seller:Mitch Waite Group
- © Mitch Waite Group
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
