Backyard Birds of America – solid app for Bird Watchers
by Toni McQuilken
Apr 28, 2012 9:35 AM –
Install
Backyard Birds of America is a set of identification guides on the most common American garden birds. The Backyard Birds of America app contains reference identification guides of common birds found in America. It will help all nature lovers identify birds whilst out and about. From the makers of the top selling ‘Birds of Britain’ app.
Price: ~$1.11
Tested on: MyTouch 3G Slide
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- A pretty comprehensive guide to various bird species.
- Lots of pictures of each bird to help identify them.
- You can save your favorites.
Cons
- You have to have an idea of what bird you’re looking for, since you search by name, not picture.
- After downloading, you have to get an additional set of nearly 600 picture files.
Features:
If you’ve ever wondered what kind of bird that is out in your yard, then Backyard Birds of America might be a great app for you. It is, from what I could tell, a pretty comprehensive list of all the birds you might see in America.
The birds are organized by category and bird family, and then you can drill down to the individual species. Each one has a main picture, as well as a few additional images to help you determine which is the correct bird. In addition to the images, each listing has detailed information about the breed, with a lot of very interesting facts. You can even favorite birds, making them easier to find later.
Now to the downsides. The search is based on text, so you have to at least have an idea of what the bird is called. Even just browsing through the bird listings, it’s by name first, then picture. It would be nice to be able to start with a region of the country, for example, to narrow it down a bit. Another issue I had was the MASSIVE download required after installation. The reason behind it is sound – you are downloading all the image files for all the birds – nearly 600 of them – so you don’t have to have an Internet connection to use the app. I like that aspect, but I wish you could choose to either install them for offline use, or call for them on demand. The app took up a huge amount of space.
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Backyard Birds Main
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Backyard Birds Families
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Backyard Birds Search
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Backyard Birds Details
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Backyard Birds Photos
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Backyard Birds About
Usefulness:
If you’re an amateur bird watcher, then this is a great app for you. It puts a huge database of birds at your fingertips, and allows you to favorite birds you’ve seen, so you can keep track of them.
Ease of Use:
The download took a long time after the initial installation, but after that, it was very easy to use. I wish there was a way to narrow down the search, or somehow make it easier to find the right information if all you have to go by is the bird in front of you. Maybe an image browser, or a way to narrow it down based on where you are in the country.
Frequently Used:
This depends on how often you go bird watching. If this is your passion, you’ll be using this app often.
Interface:
The interface was clean and easy to navigate, and I didn’t have any issues finding what I was looking for, beyond sometimes having a hard time figuring out which bird I really wanted, based on the sighting from my backyard.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Backyard Birds,
Backyard Birds of America,
Bird Identifcation,
Bird Watching,
Bird Watching App,
Birds of America
Categorised in: Books & Reference
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