The Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America

This is a must have app for any birder I also own the hard copy of this book The digital version has some key enhancements that make this worth the money My two favorites are the compare feature which lets you place birds side by side and the bird calls which you can put on repeat These features are an amazing tool for new and experienced birders alike Offering the lite preview version free is a sign that they know they are selling you a good quality product that they are proud of Amazing                 A Must Have

Great app but it crashes when I go to view species in my own populated list        It needs some bug fixes

I am a complete convert and exclusively use the Sibley eGuide in the field Its the perfect reference for birding in that it packs all the information in the large Sibley Guide into your phone Considering that youre likely taking your phone out in the field with you this means you carry around a massive field guide with absolutely no weight added The compare feature is a great learning and teaching tool as well I frequently use it when I am leading field trips to explain subtle differences to field trip participants It is easy to use and elegant The only detraction would be that the Sibley Guide lacks much in the way of explanatory or background text What text is present is very brief however this is a complaint with the Sibley Guide in general rather than the app Those who use and enjoy the Sibley guides to birds will find little lost between the books and the apps and much to be gained more frequent taxonomy updates a library of birdsongs and the capacity to limit your options to a particular state or province                 The best excuse to leave your field guide at home

Ive read the copy date on this book and it was updated in 2000 Is there any additional changes im sure there are              Needs update

Would be near perfect if birds were searchable by 4letter alphabanding codes making typing more efficient              Alpha codes

I am a hobby birder and have been collecting for over 50 years My Sibley book is the only list Ive kept for years after transferring it from wellworn Peterson West and East volumes and probably has 400 in it with locations and dates for all but the most common birds I hope to put it all in the eversion Your app is just as complete authoritative and useful as the original and Im looking forward to using it in the field For that I appreciate you made it all resident on the phonepad so it can be used without a cell signal As you look to add more features I hope you will find a way to translate GPS coordinates into geographic place names retaining both in the List Also and more importantly please work out a way to synchronize the Lists between devices owned by one person making it handy to use a phone in the field then transfer entries to a master List on a tablet Your app is a great start now Im looking for just a bit more Thank you The sync feature would be fine if it only worked over cellwifi once out of the field              Beautiful waiting for more features

I refer to this app nearly daily I no longer carry my dogeared paper copy Having the ability to play recordings is icing of the cake I have since added to my iPhone library with the purchase of iBird Pro and the Nat Geo Guide And I can say beyond a doubt Sibley has put the most thought into the design of the user interface of this app It is an intuitive dream to use The iBird pro guide has more information and capitalizes on the wealth of information on the Internet But if I wanted just one bird ID app it would be the Sibley guide                 Worth every cent

Fantastic content The UI is dated Please update Didnt pay this much for an app that doesnt get support     Due for an update

Sibley is much faster to get started than Audubon Birds if you know the genera and are presented with a new species one tap and you can type part of the name eg hum and see a list Audubon Birds annoys you every time with a prompt to log on to some social media site which is silly if you are in a wilderness area For me this makes a big difference when I am scrambling to see a list of possibles before the bird flies away The rest of the interface takes a few minutes to learn and then transitions quickly between range maps illustrations and descriptions while keeping them all as large as possible This allows you to check field marks more easily in low light or very bright light The photographs in Audubon Birds are useful to consult after you have a tentative idenfitication but the paintings in Sibley are better when you are trying to integrate several partial views through a thicket into a mental list of field marks                 Faster and Easier to Use than Audubon Birds

Ill still depend on the books The information is limited and its not easy to navigate this site     Not userfriendly

I wish the app had been synchronized with the AOU and ABA taxonomic order It does not make sense to me that the app should have to be parallel to the printed book Apps can be updated in minutes while books take years Both National Geographic and iBird have updated their taxonomy to match the AOU and ABA so why cant Sibley Its not because they are worried that the app will sell better than the book The ability to see the common names in Spanish and French is mostly useful to foreigners I think it would have been much more substantial had he made the entire database in the language not just the names But that would probably be very expensive Im still not sure why Sibleys drawings do not have much detail in them When I compare them to the Peterson drawings or the iBird drawings they look crude Maybe thats just the way he paints Its good that the app is now iPhone 5 compatible However the actual interface is is getting old in the tooth I would like to see Sibley overhaul the entire UI to make it more modern like National Geographic or iBird I do like the way the Sibley search engine works Its nowhere as comprehensive as Audubon or iBird but from a practical viewpoint it can work very well And of course I wish he had photographs in his app Right now it seems there is only one app that has both illustrations and photographs Why is that        Still needs work

Love this app of which I am a regular user However I miss a function that went away an update or two ago thats the display of the number of birds in the day list The total list still displays a number but day list does not                 Bring Back Date Bird Count Display

I have been using the Sibley eGuide for about 4 months and I enjoy it very much The content is outstanding since it includes all of the birds of North America including rarities This actually makes it a very good value when you compare the cost of the app to a comprehensive field guide in book form Variations for each species are shown There are usually several different recorded bird calls for each species this is one of my favorite features of this app I also like the compare feature where you can pull up any two species sidebyside For someone who is somewhat new to birding and bird identification this app has been an outstanding help If you are serious about keeping lists you might not be satisfied with this app I like that I can see My List of birds overall by date or by location and can email my list as a csv file But there is room for improvement It would be great if the lists could be compatible with eBird the Cornell citizenscience data collection project I also wish that some of the links in My Birds were more interactiveeg I wish I could click on a species in my list and have it take me to the overview page for that bird I also wish there were a checkmark at the top of each overview page where I could see at a glance that I have seen that species where and when In the notes for this app I see that there are plans in the future to introduce new features in this area which I look forward to Overall great app highly recommended for anyone who loves birds and wants to learn more about them              Very useful

The app is good as far as it goes but it is not a replacement for the book Numerous rather common and many uncommon species are missing It sadly needs an update to include all the species in the book        Too many missing birds

Love the app a nd use it all the time but I dont know why Mckays Bunting is not included                 Mckays Bunting

I use this app exclusively since it has calls and the convenient and helpful smart search I find it easier to use than the book intuitive and of course has all the excellent Sibley illustrations Probably my favorite app                 Excellent app

Probably the best app out there for experienced birders Hasnt been updated in over a year and a half but it still works fine so I am ok with that I also have iBird Petersons Birdseye NA and the Lite version of National Geographic Birds and use them all for different reasons Sibleys has by far the best collection of vocalizations Even better they are labeled with a description of the sound and the location of the recording Sibleys also tends to be the most helpful understanding age and seasonal variations in appearance though I often find myself wishing for a little more text My only real complaints are the thumbnails could be a little bigger and I wish there was an easier way to switch between a state index and the full index of birds when I want to look at something different currently takes about 8 clicks plus scrolling through the list of states and provinces twice to go from the state index to the full index and back              My goto bird ID app

I enjoy this app One suggestion is to include the 4 letter banding code for all the species For instance RNEP for ringnecked pheasant This would greatly aid field work Happy birding              Enjoy but a suggestin

Love this app as I use it in the field a lot When are you going to optimize for iPhone 5                 Great app iPhone 5 optimize

I never write reviews for apps Never I have had the Sibley app for years and always use it in the field It was never perfect the amount of typos was laughable but it still functioned well as a field guide But this new layout is just downright awful I loved being able to flip through the illustrations while reading the text at the same time Or reading the song description while listening to the song at the same time Now I cant do that This new interface is ugly and clunkyI just dont understand why they did this Ugh        I DETEST the new layout

I have seen this bird many time before but never knew what it was It is smaller than a Black Phoebe and looks almost exactly like it but Black Phoebe are located in the west not the eastlike Maryland                 Found bird not in Sibley

Great app over all but how do I get rid of the keyboard after Ive done a search              Great app

While its great to have access to the quality information available in the app the presentation needs improvement and falls far short of the paper book while it should be the other way around The main shortcoming Ive run into is that when trying to browse in order to identify a bird the index view shows only one variation For example I saw a darkeyed junco in Colorado The main image for that bird shows a variation completely unlike the pinksided variation I was seeing leaving me confused until later I used the book which displays all the variations on the page Identification was the easy and immediate Also the images are way too small when searching through the taxonomic or alphabetical indexes My other complaint is that the list feature is tragically primitive No location support so you have to clumsily label places instead Im glad I have the resource available on my phone and iPad but it couldshould be so much better and more useful           Great but flawed resourced

Love this app use it frequently in the field But it needs to be updated If and when this happens Ill give it stars              Update please

Love using this in the field on my iPhone Was disappointed that it did not sync with my new iPad My List does not appear on the iPadthe list is blank              Great but

I have been using this app on my Ipod Touch for a couple of years and find it very useful I like to add trip birds as I go along and previous versions showed my trip list in taxanomic order but I could only export in the order I entered the sightings which was a problem for my reporting what I had seen The new version 19 has a new interface that I like better but the trip list is now shown only in alphabetical order which makes it difficult to review the list to check if I have entered all of the birds seen on the trip I see that a version 191 is out but my Ipod Touch doent see it as an update                 Update change

Sibley has done it again The best bird field guide in app form Much like he did for paperback bird guides the release of his Guide to Birds of North America for the iPhone has set a new bar for bird guides Lots and lots of accurate illustrations Redtailed Hawk gets 39 illustrations and 7 silhouettes plus a good selection of bird calls make this a winner The ability to compare two species on the screen at once really sets it apart No other app can give you the amount of illustrations malefemalejuvenilewesterneasterndarklight If you are looking to identify birds you are seeing this is your app                 New standard for iPhone bird guides

The features that make the Sibley app worthwhile in the field comparison lots of drawings and the quick search feature are still there but Im disappointed that this update didnt capture all the recent changes approved by the AOU and the ABA the whats new statement does include a couple of splits but not all changes The birds are in old taxonomic order Loons Grebes Albatrosses etc instead of the newer order DucksGeese Chachalaca Quail etc with FalconsParrots following Woodpeckers Also several birds that appear in the US are not in this app four are missing for my life list The first time I wrote to the app publisher I was told that the app follows the book so if a bird was not in the book then it wasnt in the app However the app publishers have the ability to be more current and relevant than the printed product which is more costly and timeintensive to create but which I will still purchase when it is released National Geographic a similar app with book ties has placed the birds in current tax order ahead of the printed version and NatGeo has all the birds seen in North America including Sungrebe and Sinaloa Wren The latest Audubon version hasnt updated to the 2012 tax order but is still newer than the Sibley app Please take the time to make this more current           Still work to be done to make this current

Very well done app that continues to improve If youre a birder or just want to learn birds you need this app I would like to see the option to go directly to the search screen upon launch rather than adding the extra step from the splash screen every time                 Great app

The interface for this app is a bit dated compared to Peterson and Audubon Just being honest But I appreciate the update for iPhone 5 And the thumbnails that were added in the list view are nice The illustrations in this app are still the best for identification              Thanks for the iPhone 5 update

The best bird ID app hands down Hopefully this app auto updates with the new print edition in the near future Some useful improvements 4letter code species search boost songcall library nocturnal flight calls would be a plus integrate range maps with Birdeye or ebird output maps                 Great infield app

Doesnt list all North American birds Only 2 chickadee species 3 titmouse species No American black duck Only one waxwing species No eurasian tree sparrow Wish I had known this before purchasing Ibird still better           Not all species from North America

This has always been my goto 5star birder app but I also dislike the new update especially the fact that my List now sorts alphabetically There should at least be a taxon option Worse yet the app quits every time I try to delete a species from the list Been trying for three days and havent succeeded yet even after deleting the entire list starting from scratch Since I use the List for one of the only things its logically good for as a list of possible FOYs I might see in the next few weeks this is a rather infuriating problem at present           Lists

For the budding birder an amazing addition would be pairing with Shazam yes the music App so you could Shazam a bird call and it would identify the species Maybe even put in location information andor time of year to help narrow down the search              A Great Way to Improve an Awesome App

At the moment I do not think this is worth the money at all Maybe it will improve over time but right now it is pretty poor In the smart search it is missing many distinguishing features like the color on the throat etc Even the search by name is either very weak or very incomplete For example I wanted to see a list of all the hummingbirds that have a red throat of which there are quite a few Nothing came up searching on hummingbird or even on a few hummingbirds by name For instance searching for Rufous brings up only a Rufouscapped warbler no hummingbird Some people claim they can leave their bird books at home and only use this app I doubt it        Pretty weak search and small amount of birds

This is the best bird guide app I like it even better than the printed edition But as one of the most expensive apps in the App Store you think they could update it The second edition of Sibley has been out for a while but none of the changes ave been incorporated into the app It seems like Sibley has really abandoned this app and must not be selling enough Drop the price and give us Sibley Second edition and this would be the bestselling bird app I still recommend it but it is just dissappointing it has not kept pace with the printed book           Great but desperately needs updating

What sets this apart from the other illustrated bird apps is the number of excellent illustrations and bird songs The included information is comprehensive as well However the plain text no illustrations of birds in what functions as a table of contents makes finding what you are looking for difficult unless you already know Therefore I never refer to it in the field If it remedies this it could replace iBird but Audubons unique features and Petersons ease of us keep them among my mostused birding apps                 Beautiful illustrations not easy to use

I have been using the Sibley app since it first came out I have been extremely happy with it and have been recommending it to other birders whenever I get the chance I really dislike the new layout which is much more like iBird A big part of the reason I dont use iBird is because I do not find the layout to flow well or to be very functional and its a shame a great app like Sibley has upgraded to the same format I plan to dump the Upgrade from my computer and iPhone and resync the app with my iPad which contains the old version This is the first Update of this app in a long time and its a total shame they got it so wrong        Warning Do Not Update

Dont really have anything bad to say except theres one part of the most recent update that I dont like changes to the my list section I dont understand how the default list is listed I like how in default they were listed in alphabetical order Now they just seem to be listed in no particular order unless you choose to see your list by order of date or location If I cant remember if Ive seen a bird I want to find it on my list quickly and easily if Ive seen it which I cant do after this update              Great app disappointing update

A very nice app It is my first source for any birdrelated information I need The illustrations are beautiful and detailed showing distinct field marks for each bird The sounds are crystal clear and very easily pulled up Definitely worth the money                 Sibley eGuide

Potentially a great app but it is way overpriced 19 is a lot for an app with so so support and hardly any updates I use it in the field and switch back and forth between this app and Bird Log This app crashes very often and in the middle of an ID so it is very frustrating waiting for it to restart and find my place again I started using iBird Explorer Pro even though the illustrations are inferior because that app never crashes I emailed them a couple times about this problem but it has never been addressed in an update Another annoyance is every time I use the comparison feature a dialogue box explaining how this feature is used pops up and you have to tap ok to proceed I understand this feature and dont need a constant reminder The search features is clumsy and useless in the field also May I suggest a search bar at the top where you can type in the bird name genus or ABA code to jump directly to a species or genus I think this app would be much more popular and have increased revenue if they cut the price to 499        Keeps crashing in the field

I love the app It is great for traveling when I want to go light and I do not have room for a hard copy bird guide I found an error When Alaska is selected as my locationthe grayheaded chickadee is not included in the query                 Love the app found a bug

There should be an option for more than one list This would allow life year and state lists all convieniently in one simple place Other than that its great                 More lists

The app is great but the daily count is missing Also I think the search function should auto complete with suggestions of different birds You should be able to type a partial name and have it pop up                 Bring back the bird count by day

Overall Im happy with the update I have several birding apps but this the one go to the most I especially like the feature that allows you to keep a list of birds spotted The latest update no longer displays your list alphabetically it looks like they are sorting the list Taxonomical instead of alphabetical This makes it difficult to quickly search through for a specific bird when your list gets longer Ideally it would be nice to have the option to sort My List Taxonomical or Alphabetical like the main list does Hopefully this will be added in the next update                 I like the update but would like a My list sort option

Finally an easy to use but sufficiently detailed source for identifying birds including recordings Very exciting                 Wow

I have 7 bird apps and the Sibley guide is my favorite This one has excellent illustrations the same as in the printed guide including all species in flight and a good range of different age and sex plumages While many other reviewers laud iBird note that with iBird you get a haphazard selection of photos not a consistent set of ages and sexes and very few species pictured in flight Like the other guides this one has range maps vocalizations and written descriptions Sibley has fewer features than iBird or Audubon fewer search categories in particular but unless you are a total beginner you dont need the search function that much With Sibley you can limit the species displayed under any search to any one US state or Canadian province The vocalizations are exactly the same as in the Audubon app The best feature of Sibley app that no other has is the Compare feature that allows you to view and scroll through two species at once on a split screen This is a very handy feature when trying to identify sparrows gulls Empidonax flycatchers shorebirds and other difficult groups Another advantage of the Sibley app is that because it doesnt have some of the unnecessary extras of iBird and Audubon the app is smaller and takes up less memory I highly recommend the Sibley app especially for birders with some experience identifying birds in the field rather than total novices                 Excellent but pricey My favorite of all the bird guide apps

I do wonder why when I have All selected and look under Ducks Canvasback doesnt show up              Very helpful

I am a field biologist and cannot rely on this app for uncommon birds or most neotropical migrant in South Texas Some of the ducks Whistling ducks are missing Many more need to be added        Many Birds are missing

I enjoy this app mostly the compare 2 different bird at same time When it comes to calling in birds I sure would like to see added to this app a snippet of 3to5 birds on one call like warblers robins added etc It sure would be less stressful on birds I was on hike and this is what guide used he made his own And it worked              Bird calls