Birdseye Bird Finding Guide App Reviews

First of all, the ability to view eBird lists when looking at the reported birds near me, is completely broken. It used to work fine but no longer does. For such a pricey app as this (you have to pay monthly as a subscriber just in order to use the app within your region - which is another expense), I expect the functionality of viewing eBird reports to be near flawless! Please please fix this major issue. I'll reevaluate my rating when fixed.

I had high hopes for this app. The concept is great. However, on a trip to South America I found that when doing a smart search and selecting yellow as a search criteria, no species were exhibited. I reported this the the developers and was informed that it was a problem in the software. This was back in December. After returning to the U.S., I found that the same issue was present when using the app in the Northwest. After communicating with the developers, I was told the problem was being worked on and that they would let me know when is was resolved. That was over a month ago, and I have received no update since then, and to the best of my knowledge, the problem still exists.

This app has been developed with the border in mind, and it’s the best way I know to enter observations to eBird. I even use it over eBird a computer interface when I’m home! I’m impressed by their continuing development and improvements, and looking forward to it getting even better! Scott Whittle Co author of The Warbler Guide

Love this app

When visiting a new place, even just for one night, I use this app. I have found all sorts of new places to bird; even when I only have an hour.

I use this often, and wouldn’t found the bird otherwise! I used it locally , often. Thanks for a great program .

I am a new user of this app and am having so much fun identifying birds and learning about the birds in my area. Highly recommend this app to bird lovers or to those wanting to learn more about birds.

It’s ok if you purchase a subscription to enhance the app w info about your local birds. Even with that though it is kind of clunky to use. Maybe there is a YouTube video on how to use? I haven’t checked. You might be better off, if you don’t care about contributing to ornithology data, to purchasing the Peterson’s App. Hate to say it but these are my thoughts.

I’m a subscriber and yet I’m constantly asked to RE-download the library of bird calls, etc. sometimes with no success. Needs refinement.

Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent

I have used this app for several years, and love it. I’ve used it all over the world. I find it easy to help identify good spots to bird while I am traveling and The directions have worked quite well in most circumstances. Sometimes, for obvious reasons, you still have to walk around a little to find the heart of the birding location but that is to be expected. The refinements that have been made over the past year have been helpful and hopefully will continue. Happy birding.

I love this app. I am a beginning birder and this is easy to use.

The simplest operations are not obvious and very roundabout! Also online help is useless! I spent at least two days entering birds from a recent trip to South America. Every thing seemed to be fine until months later my lists are empty! What happened? There’s no way to find out. Thank you Birdseye for waisting my time and money

I’d easily give this app a five but it has one annoying flaw. Sometimes when I switch to the searc scr

Very good with some limitations You can’t set a location- only uses your current one When looking up an individual bird there seems to be no way to look at individual EBird reports of the latest sightings

I use Birds Eye a great deal and find it very helpful. I will continue to use it. What really ticks me off is when it quits working and I have to delete the program, restart my device and go through all of the password crap to get it to sync with eBird. This has been going on for years. Why can’t you fix it?

Certainly a great and useful app. I use it extensively when other at home and when traveling. One problem I haven’t been able to conquer is searching for data by species name. It just doesn’t work. I get referred to a subscription page even though I have done the entire subscription process a couple of times. Strange bug in an otherwise exceptional app.

I find this app indispensable when traveling to a new area where I am unfamiliar with the common and on common species. It is like talking to a local birder and hearing his local knowledge.

I am working to see 100 birds in every county in Tennessee. Wouldn’t have tried this without this app. I use it constantly when birding which is usually 5 days a week. Would love to have the nearby birds have a filter to only show birds that are in a designated county.

Ty for developing app to help Id and list birds seen in Peru. Workflow from id to listing on ebird within app is non-intuitive, repetitive and a long process. Could you please improve this UX? Contact me if you want to observe my UX and issues. Also, when does my list data synchronize to ebird lifelist? I added birds to my ebird list within this app, but they did not appear when I logged into my ebird lifelist. Thank you for this resource and help.

The app is informative and easy to use to locate likely birding spots and sometimes particular rarities. Finding unusual birds is best done through some medium with faster response - Birdseye data tend to lag several days relative to the initial siting and some rarities never make onto the app at all because folks choose not to share them.

Great app, just wish it wasn’t so insistent about having location turned on.

I travel and this app is a great reference for birds in the area. easy to use and many times comes up in poor reception areas. Let’s me know what birds to spend time looking for

Great to see what's expected in your area, or recent observations at hotspots.

Love this app for finding birds I need in an area and for finding good hotspot locations. Wouldn't leave home without it.

I wanted to see what was available in this app and see if some of the common birds in my area were in the app but I would have had to pay to search even though it says the app is free. What if the birds I wanted to see weren’t listed? Then I would have wasted my money

I'm only giving it 5 stars because I can't give it 6!!

Not helpful at all!

Really disappointed that you can’t use it at all anymore without purchasing a monthly subscription pack.

I use this app everyday. It has helped me learn what birds are around me, and helps me identify them when I go bird watching.

I have used this app to see where interesting birds are being spotted locally. On a recent trip to Costa Rica it proved invaluable in helping to know where to look for birds and to identify birds that I spotted.

I use it all the time at home and when I travel. Worth the subscription fee.

This app is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have uses it to find birds in Europe this last summer. As long as I have an internet connection finding and locating target birds is really easy. I downloaded all the photos(takes for ever) but is very helpful. This tool along with local bird field guides really makes hunting for target birds much easier. Especially the map locator. Your life list is directly connected to your eBird account so when you report a lifer on eBird it will be included on the Birdseye life list. This can be helpful on birds needed list.

If you are a beginner this may be helpful. If you are seasoned the only way to get any value out of this is through the monthly fee. No thanks. I don’t mind paying for a useful ap but not a subscription. There are also other ways of getting this info in the ap without it.

This app is amazing for birding in the US and internationally. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that I can never seem to successfully download my subscription content so I can use it offline. I'm often in places without service, particularly internationally where I need my purchased content the most. I wish eBird would link to this app so I didn't have to switch back and forth so often while birding.

Best way to target your birding plus helps you to expect what to see. Buy the world plan for the whole year and you'll never worry about paying for more species. Superb to have along traveling in New locations

Completely broken since last update. Shows no recents and only the same 20 birds for any location I select. Wrong birds none in my region. iPhone X. Deleted and reinstalled, confirmed location services working. FIX IT! It’s been nearly a month now!

I check this app frequently to find new birds to chase. Also use it before traveling to identify target birds. It's linked up with eBird so filters based on previous sightings--so use eBird too!

Newest successful experience with this profoundly useful and elegant app: I was attending a meeting at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (someone had to go!). As I always do on such trips, I looked to see if there were any nearby opportunities to see new birds. I hadn't been to Wyoming for decades, so there were several, and at one site only 29 minutes away by car someone had reported a Great Grey Owl to eBird just 5 days before. After the meetings were over I went to the location, Upper Turpin Meadows, and while I didn't find an owl my first visit, in the afternoon, I did find one the next morning. Life Bird. Thank you BirdsEye!

I love checking BirdsEye each morning. Tests my bird ID. Next, I check where the bird is found and additional pictures of the bird of the day. This app is so much fun. A real learning tool. I LOVE IT!!

The app used to be a great way to find birds, especially when traveling. BUT with the newest update, it is completely useless. Just keeps crashing. And don't tell me to get a new iPhone. I like my 5s. It's the app's problem, not my phone, since before the update it worked fine.

I find myself using this more and more. Finding locations to visit in unfamiliar territory is so much easier than searching the Internet. And now that I have linked it to my ebird account I can contribute my sightings to the community.

I use this App almost daily - I check out the hotspots within 50 miles to see what is moving in, moving out and currently present as well as searching for rarities. On trips, I track our progress against good birding sites along our route. It is an excellent tool that can significantly enhance your birding experience.

Not like we have wifi in the field doing a monthly migratory bird survey. This is one of the apps on my phone which no longer works on cellular data. I get a message that it's not turned on for cellular access. I open up cellular data and turn it on. I go back to the app and it again tells me it's not turned on for cellular access. I take a look at the cellular settings and it shows it's turned the app back off again. I think might be an Apple thing in iOS as it seems to be happening with other apps too. Or maybe the apps are just not updated for the newest version of iOS and causing them to not run right.

I love this app! One of the wonderful things about it, is if you see an unusual bird and can't find a match in any of you birding apps, if you look in Birdseye you'll very likely find it in the birds around you or rare sightings section.

A good app for seeing what birds have been documented in your vicinity or at a chosen site recently. Subscriptions seem a bad deal. Including expected as well as birds seen at a given sight would be an improvement. This would be particularly useful for sites with few birders.

This app makes it much easier to narrow down an accurate identification!

The flexibility to get birds base on Life or Year for any geographic scope is invaluable. Having access to nearby, recent sightings is a tremendous help, especially when traveling.

Finally I can keep my life list updated on all my devices! Love It.

My most frequently used bird app.

I don't know what's happened but I can't search a location. Tried buying the upgrade and that didn't work either. They've ruined a perfectly good app

This app would have 5 stars if it weren't for random crashes that occur. I will say, it has improved in this area since I got it two years ago. I use this app exclusively to plan any out of town trips I go on. Hot spots I have never heard of are found by searching my life (or year) needs. My favorite discovery using this app was Big Morango Canyon in Southern California. I picked up four lifers there, which is a big deal for this California local. If I had to buy this app again, I definitely would.

We are working to increase the number of birds on our ABA North American list and this is a fabulous app for locating hot spots and birds. Was unsure about paying for the access but have been happy as its aided in finding several life birds near where we have been.

Love it, I keep my life list here!

General bird walks are great, but sometimes you want to find A single bird for your list. Birdseye can put you in the right spot based on recent observations in your area. Absolutely essential!

Works nice to find new locations while traveling

Gives any Birder of any caliber everything one could possibly need right in their pocket!!

Love this app! Wonderful for finding various birds in your area. Exact locations of sightings. Very very useful!!

Excellent birding app, I use it for quick access to songs & calls, find local sightings of a specific species, and as a general guide.

I use this app constantly. It's great to be able to look nearby, or at a specific hotspot, to see what species have been spotted by others. I generally set my app to pull species seen in the last two weeks, near where I am. In the field, I live being able to take a quick look at the pictures of males, females, juvies, regular and alternate plumage, etc, etc. As a new birder, this is a big help. I can easily rotate between Birds Eye and Ebird to prepare my sighting reports right in the field. Then I can look up any species I couldn't ID, at home, in one or more field guides. My routine will probably change as I gain experience, but I'm happy with it now, and it definitely depends on Birds Eye.

If you're on a trip and find a little unexpected time, this will help you quickly find productive areas to see birds you're interested in.

Like the concept and am hanging in there but it's difficult to navigate, instructions at times seem designed for an earlier version. Have a membership and app tells me it has downloaded all the world's birds but cannot see anything in airplane mode. When connected to wireless, it is very useful, showing a list of expected birds at particular location. Cannot get that feature to work without wireless. Therefore does not seem like it will be useful in A remote area. Would love to be wrong.

Absolutely my go-to tool for finding new species.

Glad to find a place to record my global list. Like the basic level of access and information available.

While this is a superb app for birdwatching, there are many features that require paying and, in my opinion, defeat the benefit of this being free from the get-go. Everything else is good though

I use several bird apps and this is one I always have with me for several reasons. 1 . the 'near me' function narrows the selection of birds when in unfamiliar places. 2. The frequency by month gives a lot of information at a glance. 3. Worldwide coverage in one app is great. On the 'can do better ' front 1. Many birds have incomplete info. Other apps have more detailed pix and descriptions 2. You need an internet connection to get value from the app. Downloading 'near me' information would be a big plus.

I think it'd be cool if there'd be a way to search for sightings in recent days rather than weeks. Also, if we could see specific notes for any species rather than just notable/rare species.

Great App. Great for seeing where birds are in areas around you

Why do I lose all my content when my subscription stops? And why does this app have only 100 species and all its content is copied from Wikipedia? The bird song recordings are extra $$ and too expensive. And you MUST be connected to the internet at all times for the app to show all content. There is no WiFi in the country! How can this publisher ask us to spend $3 to $5 a month for an app with no original content and then if we stop paying whatever content we have paid for is taken away? It just makes no sense to me. Furthermore the app requires a constant internet connection or it won't work. Why would anyone spend $3 a month for 12 months ($36 total) when for only $20 they can buy a large and complete database of over 900 species from David Sibley, Peterson or iBird? And these apps contain gorgeous hand draw illustrations rather than photos and all birders know photo don't tell the true story of what a bird looks like. No I'll stick with the apps that don't try to trick the unsuspecting. If you want to download this app by all means go ahead but before you click the subscription buy button check out the free version of any of the apps mentioned above. Then decide if apps with complete databases that you own, which work in the field without an internet connection, that have great search systems for IDing birds, large sound libraries, etc. are a better deal.

Very useful!!!

Helpful at any level of experience.

I've been using for over 3 years. Pulls ebird.org data and makes it usable to find the birds or locations you want. Indispensable when traveling.

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I enjoy looking at the app

I have owned this app since it first came out and find it indispensable. It is well supported with many improvements. Bugs are quickly fixed. This is a first rate app!

This is a highly useful app for any birder contemplating their life or local lists. The layout stinks and the functionality is totally underwhelming. Despite the technical no-how you will use all features.

I have been a birder since I was 12 years old, but this app enables me to find rare and other birds in my region. As a result, I have seen Snowy Owls, European Widgeons, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Scarlett Tanagers and many other great birds. Now my son and daughters are hooked. Citizen science is transformational.

When I'm in a new birding spot I first fire us BirdsEye, to find out what I'm likely to see, and avoid making guesses and assumptions.

Birdseye is indispensable! The best thing is that it shows which birds have been seen IN THE AREA where you are visiting, and provides a bar graph of the number of sightings by month. So you can quickly narrow down which are the likely species that you have seen. It is crowd-sourced and linked to EBird (both from Cornell). The app also includes photos of the birds, but does NOT contain descriptions of the birds—its only weakness. But use Birdseye in combination with one of the apps (like Audubon) that provide descriptions. Also, Birdseye works all over the world, not just in North America. An amazing app that has revolutionized birding!

Although a few items I'd like improved, there is nothing else out there to help the migratory birder, whether locally or internationally, like this app. The help desk is very responsive as well. Please donate to a great cause w this app.

I'm trying to see as many species as possible in the county where I live and this app is invaluable. Each week I check it to find out what birds have been spotted nearby and then choose where to bird accordingly. It tells me where a species has been reported and how long ago. I wish it would then take me directly to the checklist so I could see any notes from the birder about exactly where they saw the bird at a particular hotspot, but all-in-all I am very satisfied.

I'm really enjoying this app. The pictures and audio are fantastic. The descriptions are a little too brief for me but I have plenty of books for that.

I bought Birdseye a long time ago for $20 and used it with great admiration to its capabilities. However, the app got deleted on my phone and upon redownload, it said I needed to pay a membership fee every month to get all the birds I used to have. Incredibly disappointed to have been a long time user and enjoyer of the app only to be s****** over. Thanks BirdsEye

This app conveniently pulls together all of the eBird information you would want, allowing you to review what has been seen in the field recently so that you can prepare an outing. You can connect to eBird so that your life list is uploaded which allows the app to present your needs list for a given area. Multiple field photos are great as well as the songs and calls making it a great tool to assist with difficult identification. Love this app!

I have about 4 birding apps on my phone, but this is my go to app time and time again. Favorite feature is being able to easily see what "notable" species have been seen nearby and from there link to a map to see/navigate to location!

I installed this a app at the recommendation from a friend. Seem like a good app. I will need to get more familiar with it before I upgrade to the paid version.

It's fun to narrow down the possibilities of sightings and good to know what to look for!

I use the "nearby birds" search very frequently as I travel. Incredibly useful!

This is one of the most informative, useful, and enjoyable mobile apps one can bring on a birding field trip.

A great app that’s getting better with each revision. A must have for any bird photographer.

I’ve been to some obscure refuges lately. Unfortunately there weren’t many sittings listed, so the ap didn’t really help me.

We have a very diverse bird population in our area and I was excited to see that this app interfaces with the eBird project. After downloading, the first two species I typed in were only included in the subscription service. Needless to say I immediately lost interest in using the app. In addition, the app could use a facelift. Looks like a first generation iPhone app.

This is a brilliant app, uniquely useful to locate both birds and birding hotspots. Don't leave home without it!

The app told me most of what I was seeing around me daily, wherever I went in Africa. Extremely cool.

I love this app! It has helped me see more birds I may not have found on my own.

My wife and I use this all the time when birding.

Love it for trip planning, county birding and big year birding

Very handy when traveling and for monitoring migration. But not totally intuitive.

I enjoy using this app to see what is nearby and to keep up with my lists. I do use it occasionally to help with identification. The downside to this app is that it seems to really drain my battery. But that may be because I often use it in conjunction with ebird.

I have many field guides on my phone, but this is always the first one I look at when I start birding. Using data from eBird it shows me the birds that should be around me right now, and includes frequency graphs so I can see how likely I am to actually see them TODAY. Highly recommended.

I can't count the species BirdsEye has led me to. Amazing piece of crowd-sourcing.

Perfect for finding target birds in unfamiliar areas, or rarities to chase.

Every serious bird watcher needs this app. There is nothing else like it. It works beautifully. It also pairs well with Daily Bird. I use this app every day at least once. I have had it since it came out.

I use this app to find what's around me; help solidify ID and especially when I'm going to new locales... what's being seen & where. In June 17' I was in Seattle and NW of there , seeing birds I had no idea what they were, I photographed them then used this App to help ID. A week later in Texas, it provided some great Birding locales for me to see & photograph birds. Always keep the code of ethics in mind when Birding or using eBird.

Very painful user experience. When I try to view a bird it’s says you need a subscription. You can’t use the app without paying apparently. I purchased a subscription and then I need to download 15,000+ files. So I start downloading but if the phone goes to sleep the download stops and I get a download error. So I plug the phone in and keep it awake by tapping the screen and watch 1000’s of files slowly download. After 30 minutes the download finishes. Then I try to view a bird’s info and it tells me to download again. So I try to download again and it tells me I’ve already downloaded. No documentation other than a pitch to pay for a subscription. No troubleshooting guide. The contact support link is broken so there is no way to get assistance and no way to figure what I did wrong. So I delete the the download and try again. Same problem. I’ve been trying to get this to work for hours now. It’s just $3 so it’s not really worth the trouble to try to get a refund. I would rather have not spent so much time trying to get this to work. There are other apps that do work and don’t charge monthly fees. Try Audubon Birds or Merlin Bird ID. You will need to download bird packs for those but it only takes a few seconds to download. I strongly recommend you don’t pay for this app when there are much better free alternatives.

Don’t go birding without it. If you have ebird you need this app.

Great app. Very accurate and timely. Great resource while traveling.

Seriously $4.99/ month!

I like certain things about this app and use it most when I am in a new area and want to see what birds are being spotted nearby - or if I want to see a specific bird, I can look by species to see where it is being seen... HOWEVER, most likely you will want to get a subscription because whenever I look for a specific bird - it will inevitably only be available with subscription. So I subscribe now and then, but usually only for a month here or there, when I know it will get more use. And the offline content download process is PAIN-STAKING. I have a 128G iphone 6+. It took 1 hour and 10 minutes for the full download to complete - although it does not indicate in any way anywhere that the download will be that extensive... and it’s only 1.66G. Ugh. I sincerely pray they fix this issue and make this process way faster/more clear. Do not try to use the app while the download is happening, or go to another app - as the download will quit and you will have to start completely over again. No kidding. I use iBird Plus, eBird, Merlin, Audubon’s N.Am. Birds, the Warbler Guide, and a few other birding apps... I would say this app comes in 4th or 5th in terms of how much I use it. I will probably use it for one month and then end my subscription until I travel again. For all the trouble the download was - I’m better off using Safari to crawl through data on eBird than to use this most of the year. I love Kenn Kaufmann and want to support his work, but I need the BirdsEye app to function a lot better for me to use it more AND be willing to pay a monthly fee.

This app is superb and incredibly easy to use. The multiple images, adult and juvenile, in different settings and varying plumage are very useful in the field