National Geographic`s Handheld Birdsâ„¢

This is a great app but it could be better It would be nice to have flight patterns real photographs of the species in their natural habitat more videos and possibly information on how to attract species when applicable Other than those minor additions this is an awesome app for the price and I use it almost everyday              Great App but could be better

Paid ten dollars want it to be perfectLove cartoons with description but would love after that another slide of a real picture of it in natureif doubting to buy it STOP THINKING GET IT              Almost perfect

We put some bird feeders in the yard this year and this has been very helpful for identifying the dozen different birds that weve seen there as well as others weve seen around town The search interface is well designed and the combination of adultimmature pictures for most birds and the range maps for each have helped a lot                 Great bird app

Ive tried many apps and this one Judy works The power is in the filters that actually help you find the bird you are looking for This is the only bird app that lets you filter by state an time of year so that you only see the birds that are actually in your area Buy it Much better than Peterson or Audibon                 Hands down best bird app

Ii have tried a few competitive apps and have settled on this one for now Good searching feature and database It would be nice if I could sort my lists in various ways And it would really be great if the app sync between iPhone and iPad and even Mac                 Very Good App

This is hands down one of the best bird identification apps in the App Store It has an amazing library of birds and I havent yet stumbled upon a bird that I wasnt able to find It also has an intuitive filter to help you find birds based on such things such as the region and time of year But the best part of the app has to be the journaling aspect You can record the birds you see along with info such as weather and location Other unique features make this a must have for both expert and a amateur birdwatchers Two thumbs up                 Amazing Bird App

All of the answers on the quizzes are blank Glitch is disappointing anyone else have similar problems I would really like to see this fixed after spending the money on it     Quiz blank

Guess Im having a hard time using this Must be my error I had turned off all the filters but it still wouldnt show a couple birds I put in Today I tried them again and now they come up Go figure I also made a list yesterday the one that shows your location not where you put in your own name and now the list seems to be gone Maybe that will come back tomorrow Or maybe its only a temporary list Ive since made my own list and am trying to remember all I had in the other one Useful app love the sounds but things seem hinky or maybe its just me              Good but needs work

fun and easy                 great

Took advantage of the price break to get v20 which I hope means the next version is coming out soon I agree with many who would like correct sounds attached to the correct bird that the search tool should be refined and the graphics improved Would love to see a life list function and then see more birds added to accommodate at least the latest ABA list Im in Arizona so not seeing Sinaloa Wren Blue Mockingbird or Pacific Wren in the app is disheartening but then no app has them all At least as the folks supporting Sibley tell you if its in the book its or should be in the app              Good product but extras are needed

This is a great reference book which I find has all the information needed to identify birds and learn more about habitat and so on The only thing I find as a negative is the amount of disk space required for this guide If you want to own this ensure you have plenty of room on your iGadget                 Great Reference Book

Revision A developer who listens is a good developer and Im glad to see that NG has improved there display to allow full screen images Its certainly better butIm not enamored with how They implemented it Its kind of hard to explain but basically you have to tap it twice in order to see it fullscreen I still think there are better apps for birding out there in this one but there are some reasons for owning it anyway I own all the current birding apps on the iPhone Peterson Sibley iBird and now National Geographic Ive been waiting for Nat Geo to update their app as version 1 was not up to the quality I expect of this company Im glad to see this new update and it has some really neat ideasquizzes journal clever interface lots of species etc There are little things that bother me compared to other birding apps I own like the drawings only zoom inside the top half of the screen of the iPhone so you cant ever see them in full size but I will give them a pass on that for now But there is ONE MAJOR BUMMER about the Nat Geo bird app it wont run on an iPad Certainly they have the programming talent to make it a universal app So I have my theory and maybe Im full of it but what kind of tells me Im right is you cant zoom the drawings to full screen on the iPhone And why not Could it be that they are all too low resolution If they are not high res they wont look good on the iPad Other apps have similar issues but it doesnt stop them from making a universal app So come on Nat Geo lets see some great art at high resolution and a universal UI Oh one other thing missingno photos So for now I will give them 3 stars and when they make it full screen iPad Ill give them 5           Great app except for not universal

Im so happy this is not like those crappy Audubon social networking programs that are 90 social networking and 10 field guide When I pay for reference I want 100 reference                 Field Guide

For a few days now Ive been going around my back yard neighborhood property in other states and etc to see if I could find any birds and of course I did I took pictures of several and mapped each sighting in different places this app is amazing just NG always is The price may be a little high but this is better than many of the other apps that are actually even more pricy than this Ive seen some of the other reviews saying filters dont work or cant find a bird but I believe they got the app spent about two minutes on it and then wrote their reviews while many of the the positive reviews were from people that spent enough time on the app to see its good traits                 Read this its worth it

I am a biologist and took this to a setting I have never visited and used this instead of the traditional book and I like it At the same time I tried another app for general wildlife and it was and is a disaster One of the things I like most is being able to study the calls of birds before arriving at my destination This is because I often hear the bird before seeing it or I do not see it at all the first visit But being able to recognize the call makes a revisit worthwhile Plus I like the little addon features Now if they just made this quality of app for plants reptiles mammals amphibians and other organisms I would have a great library of books on my iPad                 Great App

I could love this apps if it didnt crash and lose my info every time I make a new list I like the way the list choice works because it is simple BUT the apps shuts down and all my info disappears It has usually come back sooner or later but it is NOT reliable It is a nice apps to have in the field for reference like a portable field guide but Be warned Dont put lists you dont want to lose in it Like your life listThis should be a fixable glitch PLEASE NG Fix it If this glitch is fixed I give it 5 stars           Trouble with listings

I have 7 bird apps and although the book version of Nat Geog bird guide is the best of the field guides the app version is very disappointing First it is out of date This app was last updated over 2 years ago so the many name changes since then are not included here Second the images are of poor quality defeating the purpose of an identification guide Third the PDA version called Handheld Birds was integrated with eBird you could make trip lists and unload them but this version does not have that option you can use the My Bird Observations app instead Compared to the other guides this one is definitely not worth even the sale price of 10 You are better off with one of the others Sibley is my favorite The print version of Nat Geo 6th edition is the best field guide so I hope they update this app and Ill give it another chance Until then this one in not worth your time     worst of all the bird guide apps

Was very pleased to see the app made universal Nice job I would still like to see the ability to upload your own photos to a particular species and allow you to swipe the text below the drawing down which would allow the drawing to expand to use more screen The ability to pinch zoom isnt the same thing when you are trying to show the drawing to people Need the ability to see the entire drawing larger All in all though a great update to a nicely done app              Great update

Sitting on my back deck watching the birds I started to play with this App As I looked up the American Goldfinch and played its song 3 Goldfinches landed and sang along with the App Not a big birdwatcher but it is really awesome to play the sound bites and have the birds react to them The drawings are GREAT no picture is needed they are clear and accurate Only way it could be better is have the app listen and tell you the birds in the area like Shazaam for birds                 Great App

I was looking for an app like this for a while and found it Thanks guys                 Nice

This is a great app for North American hobbyists and I especially love the calls and songs for the various birds I had a great conversation with a tufted titmouse by playing the song he was singing and he popped down to our campsite for a closer look Stellar But the Journals Events logging feature is buggy Adding a new bird to an existing Event causes that event and all the birds logged to it to disappear Very uncool I was able to replicate this problem and finally resorted to the oldfashioned paper and pen The Quiz feature is also a bit odd It gives you say 10 questions which you answer and then if you get any answers wrong it just tells you that youve missed something without telling you which questions were answered incorrectly Im not quite sure how Im supposed to learn from that experience Keep to the basic functionality and its a great app Just dont stray too far off the primary purpose              Solid app except

I like the update especially from where the app was but the ability to email a complete list from the journal is a missing necessity Currently unless I am missing something you are basically advertising for national geographic The list only includes one bird and then proceeds to tell everyone how to get the app This needs attention        Nice Update But

Love this app if they added another filter for bird type like heron duck songbird crane hawk and vulture and it didnt crash when you made new events it would be 5 stars              Love this app

Absolutely great app We love the design and ease of figuring out a new bird sighted But this app is freezing up quite often Please fix it if it didnt freeze up some It would for sure be 5 stars           Great but a little buggy

Thank you for universal update This is the best field guide ever PERIOD Intuitive navigation Retina graphics makes it UNIQUE birding app ever Thank you developers                 Best field guide ever

Its very hard using the filters to identify birds which is why I purchased the app Too many times Ive used the filters and nothing that comes up matches the bird Im looking at in my yard If you already know the bird you can find it by looking up the name The maps and sound files are good        Not quite worthless but close

This app is a little on the pricy side but is well worth it With 995 species it is very comprehensive All species have one or up to three illustrations and one map Most have a sound recording like 80 and some of the more common birds have up to five The layout is clean and easy to follow which I like As someone who is new in birding all of the search features are very useful You can search by color size location and so on Im not very good at identifying birds yet so this helps a lot The quizzes on the birds are a nice feature but not something to buy it for The journal is nice and works well from what I can tell The feature where you can list certain species is also nice but not that important One thing I wish they would expand on is the videos of the birds There are only around 1015 videos and I really like them Please add on that in future updates Also I hate how the maps cut off at the end of Mexico or end of Alaska even if the bird species keeps going more south I would like to see the full location Overall nice easy to use app Would give four and a half stars but rounding up for having so many species                 Pricy but worth it

Easy to navigate and get bird information quickly                 Simple and beautiful UI

Paid for 20got 12 and the sound doesnt work     Ms

Love this app You can identify and keep track with this app Anyone who has the book will like the the fact that this also has bird songs you can listen too                 Awesome birding tool

Well worth the 299 I payed for it Its pretty much an electronic version of the book but with sounds and much faster searching The added features are what makes this app so nice particularly the ability to make different lists like life birds and yard birds then add birds to them You can also click on a bird you identify and add an event which will record the bird the time the date and the location all automatically Theres a lot of birding information as well as a quiz section too Only negative it crashes quite a bit but not enough to impact me too much                 Worth the price

What a huge amount of work you guys have done This is an amazing update Love the redesigned interface The lists and events ideas are great especially the builtin NatGeo lists And so much detail Must have for all birders                 Fantastic update

I would give it 47 if that were possible Great resource solid interface high quality just like the book wonderful to have every species thats been seen in N America I live in AZ and often go to FL and TX Great images and nice theyve integrated the Peterson mode of noting field marks and you can disappear them with a tap Handy listing tool though Im not yet willing to trust an app to track multiyears of my sightings my iPhone 5s crashed a few weeks ago inexplicably wouldnt take my security code had to zap it and start again lost recordings and other stuff that didnt backup But great for counting speciesnumbers for CBCs day trips etc The only problem I see with this app to date is the lack of updating to accommodate the iPhone 6 and all its extra real estateeven the smaller bigger phone Cuts off the images an inch or so before the screen ends whether vertical or horizontaljust a white space where there should be bird Frustrating especially for older eyes I hope they get on this soon Still its tough to beat this app for having virtually everything you need regardless of your skill level              Great but needs updating

Will the MacBook Pro support this app              app for MacBook Pro

A fantastic upgrade The depth of information in the app is phenomenal The illustration and sound quality definitely make this one of the best birding apps for birders This upgrade places this app back at the front of the pack of bird field guides                 Best bird app out there

Worked all right until I tried to download update Could not update could not revert to original version could not stop attempt to update until I deleted software Now cannot reload so have lost software price of software and patience Will avoid these apps in future     National geo birdwatchers manual

Nice excellent iPhone 5 full screen finally Super update I lived with 8 bit images for so long with old version Now its so good I give it 6 stars Update is so AWESOME I cant write a proper review Thank you coders and programmers                 super updated version finally

It would be awesome if the range map of a bird would show a dot for locations youve sighted it The app already keeps track of location              Feature Request

I am a beginner in bird watching and I absolutely love this app I have been getting really good at identifying birds both visually and by their calls and song It is with every dime Ive spent on it Great for the bird enthusiast If your mildly interested in bird watching GET THIS APP                 Great app

I see the other reviews of this app complaining that there are no photos of birds in the app just colored drawings Itd be impossible for every bird to be photographed to the point at which theyre good enough to showcase so I wouldnt expect photos of even some birds in the app The app is great and has just what I need to discover more about the birds I photograph Great app from Nat Geo so its recommended                 No photos of birds No problem

Goes to show that you cant judge an app by its iconwhile the Nat Geo app has great potential there are too many things wrong to give it 5 stars If they fixed half of my CONs Ill give it 5 stars Update for 31 now that it works with iPad I have them another star CONS My biggest complaint is the drawings and text descriptions are on a split page This means when you zoom the images they stay inside the upper half of the iPhone screen So you end up looking at them through a small window The descriptive text also shares the lower half of the screen with the drawing so it must be scrolled a lot and again you can only see it through a small window The search engine doesnt work right When searching for yellow birds I get species that have no yellow anywhere like the American Coot Barn Owl Black Scoter Unless they are using the yellow beaks eyes and feet for the filter but that is dumb since you would never call a bird yellow just cause its bill or feet is yellow There is no way to step though each species with Next and Previous arrow buttons instead you have to return to the scrolling list to select the next species to view The quizzes dont tell you what questions you answered wrong Plus after I finished I wanted more They say the app has more species than any other but 128 are accidentals which have very little information including no sound and no map of where it was found Not as many songs as the big 3 Sibley iBird and Audubon No way to upload photos like Peterson and iBird offer Videos are nice but not enough and dont appear on the species pages probably because there are so few PROs Very pretty design Easy to use because of the modern slide from the left menu system like Facebook uses News is a cool feature no other birding app offers Videos are nice but not very many of them Automatically adds current weather to Journal sightings Drawings are great and have field marks It has been a long time since National Geographic released this app and its great to see them finally spend the kind of time the subject of birding deserves Especially when you consider they have the 2 best selling bird book after David Sibley Nat Geo was number 1 for years and years However I do feel the app is bloated with too many features I would have preferred that many of the nonessential features like quizzes videos etc were inapp purchases so I could add them when I was interested I continue to prefer to use Sibley and iBird Still I give the Nat Geo team 3 stars in this review and look forward to the CONs I point out being fixed before I award them 5 stars           Pretty but looks not enough PROs and CONs

Great app but need a watchers checklist              National Geographic Birds

We just started using this app and have fallen in love with it We cant wait to use it hiking and canoeing this spring and summer It drives the dog and cat crazy with the bird calls Love using it in the backyard with all of our bird friends Keep up the fantastic work NG We have a Ravens nest that we can see from our living room window Yeah We are so lucky                 National Geographic North American Birds

I have enjoyed this app greatly for the last two years Im out on my deck every day calling birds using the bird sounds on this app It has so many filters that identifying birds has become almost too easy Get the app                 Best nature app by far

I never appreciated birds until I bought this app I cant wait to get up every morning and sit on my deck and play the bird calls and watch them come from all around Wonderful app just wonderful                 Best bird app ever

This app is great but needs updating One of the major things that must be updated is that when you open the hooded oriole appearances and tap streak backed oriole it shows a species of shorebird Also a great feature that should be added is the birds around me feature seen in the separate app Bird Calls A great resource for beginning birder or the experienced              Great but needs minor updates and editing

App not satisfactory tried to find information on redtailed hawk and blue heron two interesting birds within our region neither was listed Perhaps National Geographic should spend more time and energy on a worthwhile product instead of being consumed by an obsession with global warming     App not worth any price

I have only participated in backyard birding since 2007 and still have so much to learn This app makes it easy to identify birds even if you are a beginner Just open the filter portion of the app choose a region feather color and bird size and match your bird by species Listen to bird calls to identify birds you can hear but not see If you make an identification error you can easily correct it yourself One of my favorite options is dropping a pin on my sighting location which aids with real scientific research Then I get to brag about my contribution to science My very favorite part of this app is posting my bird images and entering my personal observation notes I have this app on an iPod and take pictures with my camera put the images onto a larger screen tv and copy an image from the tv with my iPod so the images I share are good ones Get this app it is worth the price                 Back Yard Birder

Love the bird sounds feature I also have the book and this is great for random sightings when I dont have my book                 Great app

Very nice app Extremely well put together Extensive information It is very easy to use the filters to figure out what you are looking at The quizzes are fun and sort of helpful Overall very nice                 NATGEO Field Guide