Birdwatcher's Diary for Android

have used Birdwatcher’s diary for several years in the USA, Mexico, and South America. It is a wonderful program that greatly enhances the enjoyment of birding. It is easy to use in the field and at home in collating data. It provides a useful format for historical records, whether for personal use or for uploading to eBird. The Stevens Creek Software team is highly responsive to inquiries and in providing app updates when necessary.

I own several bird listing software Apps for iOS, but Birdwatcher's Diary remains my top choice (I don't even bother with the other programs any more). I rely on it for recording observations nearly every day, and submitting them to eBird. I really like the fact that Birdwatcher's Diary grabs very exact Lat/Long coordinates for each species sighting (I'm using a Bluetooth GPS linked to my iPod). This is probably my favorite feature; after a birding trip, it's great to be able to instantly bring up a map of the area showing exactly where I've seen each bird! I also like the ability to easily switch Master Checklists for out-of-state trips, and the ability to customize my Checklists to include eBird "Spuhs" (i.e. "Empidonax sp.", etc.). The Birdwatcher's Diary interface allows for quick entry and works great. Because the program is so flexible and complex, it takes a bit more study to fully master than some of the other Apps out there. However, nothing else can match it's feature set, which makes the effort well worthwhile. Plus, the support from Stevens Creek is top notch - they've consistently improved the eBird upload interface (which is vital to me) and other features of the program. After nearly three years of daily use, Birdwatcher's Diary continues to be the most utilized App on my iPod. I can't image going birding without it!

I have tried a number of birding apps (including the new eBird app) and this is by far the best. I love the flexibility that it allows. I have total control over my data. I can create my own locations and record unique lat/long down to 100 foot intervals and export it to multiple formats, including eBird. A few hiccups in eBird uploads when eBird makes changes, but a big thanks to the developers for quickly adapting to these changes!

This app crams a lot of features into a non-intuitive and convoluted interface - and for a steep price. It's stunning how this app forces the user to conform to its needs, rather then addressing yours. I'm in my early 40's, a fast learner with technology, and have a background in biology / ornithology. This app defeated me, even after time investment. As an example, even searching for a bird is difficult - the user cannot just type the common name (or any part of it), as in the Sibley guide. Instead, you must first choose a type of search, then if searching by common name, type either "first" or "last" name. It turns out that the entire phrase: "Pygmy-owl" is a last name: who knew? If you search for "owl" - "pygmy-owl" won't appear in the results, only owls with non-hyphenated names. Any search that doesn't hyphenate (or not hyphenate) exactly right leads to failure. If you forget that "northern" is part of the name for northern pygmy-owl - or try to type "pygmy" as the "first name"- it will loudly QUACK!! to point out your error. The app punishes you if you don't conform to the its rigid requirements (after all those QUACK noises, I wanted to throw my Android into the nearest creek)! Why not one simple search box, where you enter any part of the name, banding code etc, and let the user pick from search results??? And the menus for saving, retrieving or uploading lists are worse. The app presents a Rube Goldberg-ian array of options that can't be understood without exhaustive study of a manual. Try to save a bird list, assign it a location, or start a new list and you'll be stymied, or hounded by the app's annoying error quacks because you haven't met its demands (but without providing a straightforward solution). I've already lost one bird list completely, still can't change locations or dates, and accidentally deleted Savannah Sparrow from the available options for all my lists. If you truly want an app that feels like 1990s technology, it would be easier to learn MSDOS, figure out how to run it on your smart phone - then use it to write your own bird list app. For those who miss DOS commands, this app's demand for rigid syntax, it's use of non-intuitive jargon, and its multi step operations to accomplish seemingly simple tasks will fill you with nostalgia. I really tried. But if the developers feel like I should have studied the manual further, I disagree. I'm not someone who gives up easily, but the whole point of apps - like iPhones - is to make things relatively easy for the user to learn. I feel bad about leaving a negative review.I truly wish the developers the best - and I share their love of birds. But I feel I must warn people about this app.

Birdwatcher's Diary is a straightforward tool that can be used in the field or at the conclusion of a day in the field (if like me you use some other device to note species observed during the day). And this reviewer appreciates the fact that (unlike so many other apps) it can be used with devices that cannot be updated to the most recent OS: as of this writing it is apparently backward-comaptible to OS 5, and it works splendidly (and with full finctionality) on my iPod Touch 4G (OS 6).