There are many benefits to bringing your mobile device with you into the field when you go birding. Mobile apps offer a wide variety of ways to help you bird better, including: field guides, ID tools, observation tools, and more. Keep reading to learn the must-have birding apps for your mobile phone.
Field Guides
Paper field guides are great, but sometimes you don’t want to carry a physical book into the field. This is where digital field guides are convenient. Download one of these apps and get access to all of the beautiful images plus audio recordings of your favorite species.
Sibley
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iBird
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Collins Bird Guide – Europe
Observation Tools
eBird
The eBird app is the ultimate app to keep track of what birds you see. By creating an account, you can submit birds you see from anywhere. Your account will keep track of your life lists and let you upload photos and audio. This app is perfect for any bird you see…even if it’s a random one on the way to your car.
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Birdsye Hotspots
Quickly locate local bird hotspots with this handy app.
Identification Tools
There are a handful of powerful apps that make it easier than ever to identify that mystery bird visiting your feeder.
Merlin Bird ID
Merlin Bird ID is a powerful app that asks a series of simple questions to help you identify your bird. You can also upload a photograph you took and it will attempt to identify it.
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Song Sleuth: Automatic Bird Song ID
Song Sleuth is like a Shazam for birds. Record a bird song with this app and it will attempt to suggest the most likely species.
Field Notes
Keeping a digital birding journal can be a great way to jot down notes, save photos and record birding memories.
Day One
Day One has been my favorite journaling app for the past seven years. You can create a journal in the app just for birds!
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Awesome Voice Recorder
App Store | Google Play
Recording bird songs easily and in the correct format (WAV) is what this app will do for you. If you decide to upload your bird clips to eBird, they’ll be better quality than the MP3 files most default voice note apps produce.
Studying
While using any of the apps in this post could be considered “studying,” these next apps are explicitly designed to help you learn bird songs.
Larkwire 1
App Store | Google Play
Larkwire 1 & 2 are apps that will help you learn bird songs for land bird sand water birds respectively.
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Larkwire 2
App Store | Google Play
Are there any other apps you find useful when you go birding? Let us know!
