Morcombe & Stewart Guide for Android

No osprey in IOC update!

I like the ease and layout of the app. It’s huge shortcoming is the lack of content. Really, only 23 of 58 honeyeaters? No cassowary? 4 of 13 monarchs? 2 of 11 thornbills? The list goes on and on. Too bad. Now I have to carry my Pizzey and Knight with me.

I appreciate the convenience of bird guide apps over carrying a bulky and heavy print book in the field. I am using this to study for an upcoming trip to Australia. The drawings are very good, especially the highlighted notes around each. There are a few species with no associated picture. I would like to see the ability to import photos added. I've seen other birding apps with this feature and it is helpful. The ability to restrict the displayed birds by region is a good one, especially as it has a map which highlights the selected area. That is essential for the first time visitor.

I have bought other birding apps specific to Oz, but this is the only one I need. With pictures, audio clips of bid calls, maps, descriptions, it outshines any other birding app. I can also track sightings, which I didn't realize til I was exploring the app. But since I'm new to birding, I don't always know what I'm looking at - the smart search feature is what makes this app worth $30!!! It may seem a lot, but it's cheaper (and smaller) than his amazing book. Totally worth the money and perfect for newbies!

I just returned from two weeks in Australia. I had both the Michael Morecombe “e-Guide to Australian Birds” mentioned above, as well as a paperback version of the Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds (2d ed). (Where I live, I use iBird extensively, and have the National Geo e-guide which i only occasionally use.) I found the e-guide to Australian Birds wonderful to use on my iPod Touch. The three main advantages compared to Slater are (1) the much lighter weight and smaller size, (2) the inclusion of song samples, and (3) the ability to filter the search results by region (e.g. Victoria, Southeast, etc)). I found myself generally leaving Slater in my car for reference if I needed it and only taking the e-guide with me into the field. I did not find the iPod Touch screen difficult to read in the field. I jumped right into using the device, and did not read the intro or help sections until later. This worked, but in hindsight I do recommend reading the intro first — it took me a while to figure out that rotating the iPod to landscape gave a larger version of the picture, and rotating it back to portrait mode returned to the default view. Also, I did not fully appreciate the compare and smart search functions until towards the end of my trip. I liked the “My List” function that let me track my sightings. The main feature I would like in the next revision is suggestions for similar-looking species. I saw and photographed a juvenile White-throated Gerygone that lacked most of the adults field marks, and I found myself thumbing through 1/2 the Slater Field Guide for an hour before someone else suggested this ID. Overall, I would highly recommend this product for birders going to Oz, and hope the publishers do similar guides for other locations (hint: Costa Rica!)