App Profile: BirdNET

dinosaurs are slick as heck

Rating: 4/5

i am hard of hearing and often have trouble distinguishing between different species while birding. this tool has been incredibly valuable to me. possibly my favorite thing about this app is that it starts recording as soon as you open it; you don’t have to hassle with it at all, which is great for getting a quick ID. i also love that you can save clips to look back on later, which is especially helpful when you’re out in the woods and can’t get an internet connection right away. like others have said, the app is a bit glitchy, and it sometimes freezes even when i do have a good connection. overall though i haven’t been too frustrated by this app. it’s extremely helpful and it is typically quick and accurate in getting an ID. i’ve found myself recommending this app to everyone, from close friends to total strangers on the trails :)

B7 Alpina

Rating: 3/5

I have been using this app for a few years now. I found that it was better during its earlier versions. In its current state, the app frequently says that it’s unable to identity the bird in the audio clip. I sometimes wonder if the app creators are too strict in their regional restrictions of sources. Basically, when you use the app, it uses your location to identify what types of birds are usually found in your area. It then uses this list to compare audio captures to. The problem is, I think it cuts out a large chunk of migratory birds that may not be as common as the creators are restricting their sources to. Thus, you may only have luck identifying common birds, but at that point you probably already know what those birds are to begin with. I find the Merlin bird identification app to be better even though it only goes by physical descriptions and not audio captures. Both are connected to Cornell’s Ornithology lab, but the Merlin app lets you choose what sources you want to utilize, and this allows you to identify those rare birds in your area.

Maine one

Rating: 4/5

I’ve been using the app for a week and it is very accurate for western Maine birds. Great for the high pitched warblers that are on the edges of my hearing range. My biggest issue is that it freezes up and stops analyzing about every twenty analyses. At the times it’s frozen up (with the infinite spinning orb) there has been plenty of cell signal on my phone. Any suggestions of what to do in the field to correct this? Turning the phone off and on does not work. The only thing that works is to delete and reload the app. Big pain while in the field! I agree with another reviewer that it would be useful to submit feedback when multiple birds have resulted in the analysis. Often it’s right on one but not on all. Seems this would be good to know.