Birdwatcher's Diary

I gave this app a try after hearing about it in the American Birding Association newsletter, ‘Winging It.’ The app allows the user to record a bird sighting with a tap on the iPhone. I tried to use the app shortly after I bought it (without reading the online manual) and had some trouble figuring out how to use it. After reading through the online manual and using the app for a while, there was still a bit of a learning curve, but it didn’t take too long to figure out how to use it. I found the app worked as advertised—I could record sightings and the app would automatically keep track of the location and totals. I loaded a couple of custom bird lists via iTunes. I output some of my sightings to my iMac using both iTunes and email and I uploaded some sets of sightings to eBird and to my own database. I think that I will still want to record bird sightings the old fashioned way, with a notebook and pencil, much of the time, but this app will have its uses. I don’t always have a notebook and pencil (or a watch or map) when I see a bird I want to record, but I often do have my iPhone.

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.

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Tried to share on Facebook and nothing happened. Have tried several times to get help from support and never got a reply. Followed the directions to upload my eBird life list and it didn’t work. Lots of problems for such an expensive App. Do your self a favor and just stick with eBird. Don’t waste your money.

Updated review: I've been using this app for 3 years now, and I wouldn't even consider using another bird listing app. My paper notebook is entirely gone. Spot a bird, tap it on the list, enter the number, and you're done. Exact time and GPS coordinates are automatically recorded. It has a myriad of options to customize your experience and speed data entry. It also includes very rich query and reporting features, and (now) supports direct upload to eBird from within the app. One word of warning, it does take a llittle bit of practice to do the initial setup and get the hang of the UI. Absolutely spend an hour to read the user guide on-line, watch the tutorials, and try it for a few trial runs to get the settings right and get the hang of it. If you don't do this, you'll delete the app in frustration the first time you try to use it. But once you're up and going you'll never go back. One last note, customer support is very responsive (can't say the same for some competing apps). Problems or suggestions are promptly addressed - and that's worth a lot.

I read all the reviews before purchasing this app and was concerned because some users had reported the app as being difficult to learn. Our daughter bought BirdLog and was less than pleased because she reported it to be buggy and I therefore preferred to select an alternative app that works even if it was going to be difficult to master. If you are at all comfortable with use of spreadsheets or other simple data entry utilities, you will find this app very intuitive and easy to use. I spent an hour playing with the app while flipping through the excellent manual and mastered it to the point that I easily recorded all my sightings out on my dog walk this morning. I subsequently exported an eBird list to myself and imported the file as a comma delimited file and ended up with a nice list. The many different free lists of birds also are easy to import from within the app.....slick. Bottom line, I couldn't be happier and recommend this app to all bird listers.