There is a constant flood of new apps available for iPhone, but it’s less common that one of these apps is for birding. Recently there has been a bunch of new releases that birders might be interested in. Some may have been out for a while but I just happened across them now and found them interesting.
Games
Birding Game
Swarovski Optik KG
This game plops you down in Rutland Water Nature Reserve in England and gives you a 360° view to click on bird silhouettes and answer bird ID quizzes as fast as you can for maximum points. This is a fun way to learn some European birds and there is apparently a Corpus Christi TX version coming too.
Birding Bonanza for iPhone
Anchor
Birding Bonanza is basically a bird feeding game, where you try to select the best bird feed for each species as they move about on your screen. Not surprisingly it is sponsored by a seed company, Wild Delight, but it is still worth checking out, if only because there are very few bird related games available.
Identification
BirdBeat – Birder’s iField Notebook: Songbird Edition
Heather KiNCH Studio, LLC
BirdBeat is a neat app, not new, but I really wanted to mention it because it is handy. You can quickly color in a bird that you can’t identify out in the field, so that you can then look it up later when you have your field guide handy. I could see this being very useful for newer birders who could then share these images with more experienced birders for help. The Songbird edition has 7 different outlines you can select from depending on the birds head shape and bill type.
Audubon Owls – A Field Guide to North American Owls
Green Mountain Digital
Audubon Owls is a free app that is full of photos, natural history and other multimedia relating to owls. It’s basically like their full featured apps, the only caveat being that it has not been reworked for Retina Displays so it looks a bit pixelated on newer devices.
Lists
Refuge Bird Lists
Gina Aguilera
Refuge Bird Lists is a simple app that gives you bird lists for some of the most popular National Wildlife Refuges and allows you to sort them by season. A great quick reference when you are visiting. You can also quickly check off species as you go to keep trip or life lists for the refuges.
