Comments on: Addicted to the Sibley eGuide

By: Tana Allen

Tana Allen — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:55:32 +0000

I recently downloaded iBird Pro and I’m totally addicted. It was on sale for $9.95, so I picked it over the Sibley app or else I would have had Sibley. It is amazing to be able to very quickly find a bird to compare without lugging my guides around in my pockets. I have lost more field guides by taking them out of my pocket to sit and then leaving them on the bench while birding, LOL! Now that’s not so much an issue.

I know exactly what you mean about playing the songs softly now. I accidentally called a Northern Parula off his perch, totally unintentionally, last week. I was in the Laurel Highlands, at Touchstone Center for Crafts, and I had heard a song I wasn’t sure of. I had played every warbler song in my cabin the night before and I still couldn’t figure out what I had been hearing. Now I was looking at a Northern Parula at the top of a tree and it still didn’t sound right, so I got the phone out and checked the song on ibird. It definitely was a different song than the one I was hearing and seeing the Parula sing, but apparently it was just a different accent or dialect, because he sure responded! It didn’t occur to me that he was going to hear it so far away, but within seconds he was in the little tree above me singing and fluttering, trying to find the intruder. I felt sooooo bad for having disturbed him.

Later, sitting on the porch of Touchstone’s lodge, talking about the birds we saw and heard, someone asked about the Towhee. I showed it to her on the phone and hit the song so she could hear it. Oops, again, here comes a very irate Towhee flying out of the brush to confront the interloper….

Lesson learned, no playing the sounds outside!

By: Barb Simon

Barb Simon — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:08:28 +0000

I’m jealous. I’m noooowhere near you guys. It’s just my eyes, my head and my heart. And I’m a plant junkie besides being a bird enthusiast. I am thrilled to be surrounded by flowering weeds. Well….maybe some day. But I’ll need a lot of help from my kids. They understand these things.

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:55:35 +0000

I’ll look into LeafSnap. I wish the Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide was on Android. As soon as that happens I won’t need *any* field books.

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:52:43 +0000

Task killer: I first used computers when 64K was a *lot* of space so I find it hard not to be vigilant about memory on my pocket computer. Yup, sometimes I really mess it up so I turn off my phone & take out the battery. That shows it who’s boss.

By: Gail

Gail — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:22:50 +0000

I have used the Birdjam on my ipod for years. It just died and I am looking to replace it. I have added so much to my bird identification with it. When I got Birdjam years ago, it was only the songs. Now they have added so much to it that, yes it has become my field guide.

By: Andrea Boykowycz

Andrea Boykowycz — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:48:41 +0000

Awesome! Thanks, Kate! Our budding 4yo birder will love it. Have you seen LeafSnap? We’ve enjoyed using it for tree ID-ing in Schenley Park. It’s not great with the shrubs and vines, sadly, but does very well with trees and woody bushes.

By: Steve-o

Steve-o — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:47:15 +0000

There are lots of articles out there that will tell you not to use a task killer with your Android phone. I stopped using one and I use an app called “Watchdog Lite”. This app looks for out of control apps that are hogging too much memory and gives you the option to kill that particular program, or ignore it.

I’m going to start dropping hints to my wife that I should get this app for my birthday, thanks for the heads up!

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:11:32 +0000

I have the Sibley Guide on my iPhone and yes, it rocks! Particularly like access to the calls, and the variety of them. Well done app.