iBird Explorer Plus for the iphone

[Bill Bryant]

in case Santa didn't bring you an iphone, here is all the reason you need. ibird Explorer Plus is a very well done interactive bird guide that lives inside of your iphone. It contains info, drawings, photos, and even recorded sounds of most of the 891 birds in it's database, and you can search it many different ways. For $19 it is a steal... unless of course you don't have an iphone yet... then add $200. There are less expensive versions for regions of the country, but that seems pointless to me.

You can google "iBird Explorer Plus", but you really have to try it to see how good it is.

Bill Bryant
Golden, CO

[Adams Serra]

Hi Bill,
My friend dowloaded the Ibird yesterday, it is great i will be dowloading my copy tomorrow.

Adams

[Doug Hitchcox]

Its a great app. Crashes occasionally but never really a problem. There are a few missing recordings... it does give you a 'similar' sounding species but there is room for improvement. That said, the diversity is awesome and has much more to offer than any field guide. Well worth the $20

[Doug Brown]

It's a great program and an incredible bargain!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Do you like it better than BirdJam?

[Doug Brown]

I don't have BirdJam, but iBird appears to have many more features than BirdJam does. I should disclose that I have a vested interest in iBird; the next update to the software is going to include at least 100 of my photos. :D

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I don't have BirdJam, but iBird appears to have many more features than BirdJam does. I should disclose that I have a vested interest in iBird; the next update to the software is going to include at least 100 of my photos. :D

Congrats, how did that happen? :)

[denise ippolito]

Doug, I am interested in getting the updated version w/ your photos-Any idea when that wil be out-Should I wait or do you get free updates to your orig. purchase

[David Billingsley]

I don't have BirdJam, but iBird appears to have many more features than BirdJam does. I should disclose that I have a vested interest in iBird; the next update to the software is going to include at least 100 of my photos. :D

Doug,

Looking forward to some of your pictures in iBird. I believe they will make iBird even better. Many of the iBird photos are good - some definitely not what we are used to seeing on BPN - and in some instances photos were not previously available. I am impressed with iBird and love the sort feature.

dave b.

[Doug Brown]

You should get a free update with the original purchase Denise. The update should be out in the next month or so.

[Mitchell Waite]

Full disclosure: I am the creator of iBird and discovered this wonderful site thanks to Doug Brown, who is contributing photos to the next update.

iBird can't fairly be compared to BirdJam which is a set of bird recordings and photos for the iPod organized by playlists and useful for learning bird songs. iBird on the other hand is designed to replace and improve upon a classic field guide - it has a decision engine, most bird calls, illustrations and photos, range maps, and the equivalent of about 10 pages of taxonomic data per species. The best unbiased review of iBird can be found at the Cloudy Days and Netbook Nights blog.

Also while iBird Plus covers 891 bird species of North America for $19.99, there are 5 regional versions that cost $9.99 for those people who do not plan to travel out of there area. There is also a backyard version for $4.99. Everything in iBird is based on the whatbird.com search engine.

Anyone interested in contributing photos for iBird can learn how at our submission guidelines. We are about ready to do a new database build so unless I get them in the next few days, it won't be updated for another month.

I hope this posting does not come across as an advertisement, I mainly wanted to update the information about the product.

[Rob Mckenzie]

iBird Explorer Plus is AMAZING!!! - best app for the iPhone period - if you are into birds obviously. My birding knowledge has increased 10 fold since downloading it and using it in the field. Paired with a good printed field guide (sometimes the juveniles are hard to spot with just iBird) you have no excuse for not having a good understanding of your subject matter.

[Doug Brown]

Glad to see that you found our forum Mitch!

[Bill Bryant]

Doug:

How did you meet the iBird spec of 322 wide by 403 pixels tall at 72 dpi (dots per inch) and no larger than 30k? When I downsize to 322/403, the smallest I can make the file is like 120k, and that is at the "low" setting in PS?

thanks,

Bill

[Alfred Forns]

Got it a couple of days ago and its amazing, no problems so far !!

Excellent work Goofy :) btw if you could send me a pm with a name would like to do an update, we all use real names around here !!!

btw had read some reports of crashing but had not experienced any at all, software is smooth and a bargain for what you get !!! Big Congrats !!!

[Chris Hansen]

Does anyone know if it will work with an i touch? I guess i can Google it huh

Chris

[Chris Hansen]

Yes it does work for the Itouch! Cool!

Chris

[Doug Brown]

It should work with the Touch.

[c.w. moynihan]

do the recorded calls allow for a repeat option ? and if so, is there any human narration on the call you want to cycle and repeat ? Allowing the call to repeat indefinately w/o a human voice on it would be something I would want, just like my birdjam calls on the iPod.

[Nonda Surratt]

Well iBird looks quite cool! Question would the regional one include migratory birds? Probably a very dumb question:o

[Doug Brown]

I set my crop dimensions to 5 x 6.25 at 72 ppi. Then I use the Save for Web & Devices dialog to finish saving. I set the pixel width to 322 and adjust the quality slider to get the image to 30 KB. This seems to work pretty well, and the image quality is quite good all things considered. Here's a sample.

[Doug Brown]

I don't think there's a looping option for calls, but it's a good idea and I've passed it on to the developers.

[Mitchell Waite]

Doug:

How did you meet the iBird spec of 322 wide by 403 pixels tall at 72 dpi (dots per inch) and no larger than 30k? When I downsize to 322/403, the smallest I can make the file is like 120k, and that is at the "low" setting in PS?

thanks,

Bill

In Photoshop use Save for Web.... not Save As... (jpeg)

[Mitchell Waite]

Got it a couple of days ago and its amazing, no problems so far !!

Excellent work Goofy :) btw if you could send me a pm with a name would like to do an update, we all use real names around here !!!

btw had read some reports of crashing but had not experienced any at all, software is smooth and a bargain for what you get !!! Big Congrats !!!

Glad you are enjoying it Alfred. There was some crashing on the first release but the update fixed that. We are finding that some people never find out there is an update so that is why you might hear about it now and then.

[Mitchell Waite]

do the recorded calls allow for a repeat option ? and if so, is there any human narration on the call you want to cycle and repeat ? Allowing the call to repeat indefinately w/o a human voice on it would be something I would want, just like my birdjam calls on the iPod.

Indefinately or Indefinitely :)

Yes we could allow a looping but then the people at the ABA would have get there knickers in a twist. They are very uptight about using the calls to attract birds. See this link ABA Principles of Birding Ethics.

[Marc Mol]

Also while iBird Plus covers 891 bird species of North America for $19.99, there are 5 regional versions that cost $9.99 for those people who do not plan to travel out of there area. There is also a backyard version for $4.99. Everything in iBird is based on the whatbird.com search engine.

Is/are there plans for bird species from Sthrn Africa?
I'm looking for something that will give me sound(wav) files for birds from this region?
I'm off to Botswana in Sept, and it would come in handy.
Anybody know of sound files for this region?

Regards
Marc

[Tony Whitehead]

Is/are there plans for bird species from Sthrn Africa?
I'm looking for something that will give me sound(wav) files for birds from this region?
I'm off to Botswana in Sept, and it would come in handy.
Anybody know of sound files for this region?

Regards
Marc

Nothing for the iPhone / iPod Touch that I am aware of yet Marc.
this link may be useful http://www.sabirding.co.za/products/index.htm - I have used the original Roberts for PC and found it nice - since upgraded twice so should be far better than the one I have used

[Mitchell Waite]

Is/are there plans for bird species from Sthrn Africa?
I'm looking for something that will give me sound(wav) files for birds from this region?
I'm off to Botswana in Sept, and it would come in handy.
Anybody know of sound files for this region?

Regards
Marc

There are no plans I know of for a Southern Africa version of iBird. Looking over the Robert's PDA interface it reminds me of the old days of the DOS command line, it definitely is not a modern design. The buttons have a single letter and so you have to memorize what the single letter means. Ouch. The artwork looks nice however.

[Roy Priest]

I have an original iphone not the 3G, will it work on that?

[Michelle C. Battista]

Merlinator,

I've got the first iphone, and down loaded iBirds yesterday, and I've had no problems.

[Roy Priest]

Merlinator,

I've got the first iphone, and down loaded iBirds yesterday, and I've had no problems.

Michelle, thanks for the reply. How do you like it? iBirds I mean

[Michelle C. Battista]

Merlinator,

The little bit of time that I've looked at it, it really looks great. I cant wait to go out while I'm hiking and try it out. It's set up as if you were carrying a guide book with you. The great thing is it's all on your phone, and having your cell with you, you get info really fast. I also loaded the backyard one. Both are great, but ibirds explore has all the backyard birds on it as well. What I've seen of it so far it looks to be full of info. I think I'm really going to like it.

MCB

[Dave Taylor]

It really is an amazing app - well worth the cost. I only bought the Western edition, as I rarely leave Alaska for photographic reasons - but it's very comprehensive and easy to navigate.

[Dennys Bisogno]

I have a copy and love it