Sibley Birds 2nd Edition

This app is great for people who really know their birds but need to differentiate between similar species or keep track of what they’ve seen and where. I don’t know how beginner could use it, but that’s ok. The biggest issue is that the species aren’t cross referenced. A pintail doesn’t come up as a duck, nor does a teal. And a yellowthroat doesn’t come up as an option for warblers. Yellowlegs doesn’t come up as a shorebird or sandpiper. Kestrel and merlins are another example. They need broader categories. Again, great for good birders , but not if you’re struggling to figure out what you’re seeing for the first time in a new place.

I love David Sibley’s books, and this app is perfect for making that work easily accessible. I don’t carry a Sibley guide with me everywhere, but I always have my phone. The app also has nice features like filtering by state and month, as well as bird song recordings. I honestly open this app every day just to browse through bird illustrations. I love it.

Sibley’s drawing is always the best. That’s what makes this app unbeatable among all birding apps. Compare feature is also very useful. One suggestion is, with all those smart search criteria, please add a basic browse or quick search by family option. For example, I want to compare Ovenbird and Northern Waterthrush calls. Currently there is no quick search criteria that can bring them up together. But they are close relatives in Wood Warblers family. I have to scroll down the whole list and see through many unrelated species (the little dots on the right did help scrolling faster but they too small and not precise enough). So please provide a way to get to a bird family quickly and allow us comparing similar species easier. Thanks.