I have a bookshelf full of field guides, from birds to mushrooms to wetlands. Quite often I find myself plunging into them after having been in the field because I have photographed a bird or flower that I didn’t know up front exactly what it is. Although I am constantly surprised at what information I am able to retain, the ol’ hard drive in my head seems a bit full at times. The bookshelves are getting full as well. At times, I wish there was a way to carry all this around with me.
iBird Explorer
It seems that time is coming, starting with bird field guides. iBird Explorer is an App for the iPhone that is exactly that. Not only does it offer illustrations of the species (ala Peterson’s / Audubon, NatGeo, etc), but also bird song / call examples (which I can never seem to memorize!), region info, photographs, and short tidbits about the particular bird. Basically everything you would expect in a sophisticated birding software program, but one that fits in the palm of your hand, available to you anywhere. The layout is very well done, colorful, and easy to use.
It is such a natural fit for something to have on your phone, something you normally would want to have out in the field anyway if just for emergency purposes. The big screen of the iPhone of course makes it very easy to read. They have a few versions split by regions, but I opted for the iBird Explorer Plus version that has 891 species of North America. At $19.99 – it is one of the more expensive Apps for the iPhone, but I found well worth it after only playing with it for a few minutes. If you think about the costs of a standard book version guide, a bird song CD, or even bird software, it is actually quite a bargain.
Another nice feature of iBird is a search utility that allows you to select from various predefined bird shapes, habitats, colors and 10 other criteria to try to identify any particular species. Again, very well integrated into the application, and extremely easy to use.
Bird songs
There is a more in-depth review of this excellent App here with many more screen captures. (BTW, a nice tip for iPhone users – I learned you can do a screen capture by holding the home button, and then pressing the top sleep button. A screen capture is saved to your photo collection. )
I would have to imagine this is only a start for field guides for the iPhone. The number of applications for this device, and its potential uses seems to grow by leaps and bounds every day. I think there are something like 15,000 Apps available now – less than a year after opening. It also is a reminder of how Apple has us hook, line and sinker. As the number of Apps grow, the number you become dependent on grows – the more storage space you need, the need for newer and updated iPhones becomes greater, and you become invested into the entire product line. That actually seems a bit unnerving when you realize how well they got you. Of course, it is a really great marketing and business model, and one that a lot of other phone platforms have a lot of catching up to do if they think they are ever going to be players in this game.
iBird's wonderful search criteria
I am quite happy having discovered iBird Explorer and can easily recommend it to any birder, photographer, or naturalist who has (or who will soon have 
) an iPhone, iPod Touch or similar device. They appear to have a Windows Mobile version also.
http://t.co/1xjuh7fT - posted on 22 hours ago
This may be the coolest app I have ever seen! I think it is definitely worth it if it is good enough to ID birds in the field.
Hi Mark – sorry for this sarcastic comment but I could not hold back than saying what a great concept to lure people into more consuming. Where does this end? People continue to forget that you cannot take anything with you when the time has come. Instead of using all those apps and coms and adds people should rather learn to see and listen without any electronical help…
Point well taken Petra. But I cannot deny the usefulness of something like this for me in the field. Sure, I would love to be able to memorize as many bird songs as I possibly could, but it just isn’t going to happen.
In addition, I see electronic, pocket size field guides as something good from the point of saving paper consumption and manufacturing, and not having to republish an entire field guide when perhaps only 10% of the information is new – it is a simple download and update to the device. I certainly don’t want to buy another book just to have the updated information.
I also see benefits in attracting younger generations that are growing up with these devices to want to learn more about the environment, the species around their homes, etc. Perhaps they will be more receptive to information coming from a device they now seem so connected with – whether we think they should be or not.
Anyway, just some thoughts about this. Consumerism certainly has a lot of downsides, but for educational items like this – I just see more pluses than minuses.
I don’t own any iDevices, but if I did, this app definitely would be on my wish list. What a tremendous convenience and quite an effective means, I suspect, of learning more about nature.
By the way, my reason for not owning any of these devices isn’t philoshopical. It’s just that as a retired person, I am on a rather strict budget and can’t justify the expense. While consumerisn has its nasty side, without a certain amount of it even more jobs will disappear.
Mark, I am sorry but this is exactly what Apple and the whole breed want us to believe. The so-called younger generation in general is not interested in nature at all besides a few. Haven’t you realized that the kids of today are getting more and more stupid? Their educational level is dropping to a level that I am shocked sometimes. Their interest is MP3, videos, getting on TV and earn money as much as possible without working for it as less as possible and who has the stylishest clothes and accessories. All those incredible electronical offers to collect information and learn about the more important things in life is completely in vain. When I remember what possiblities I had as a kid (an after-war child growing up in the 50′s) and what the spoiled kids of today are doing then I am getting the creeps.
And the argument that more jobs are lost when people do not consume is drop dead nonsense and misjudging the whole situation. People need to shift their habits and convictions and stop behaving as usual. There are millions of jobs out there if people would finally stop fiddling with prejudices and get their asses into gear to make our world a bit more friendly. There is more than enough money and enough resources for everyone but not enough to fullfill the greed of a few!
Consuming does not solve the fundamental problems of the world! And the main problem is that people who own most of the money in this world do not deal with it with the responsibility that would be necessary.
Petra, I think you are taking pocket bird guides in whole new directions here.
While I have certainly seen examples of what you mention in our youth, I have also seen the opposite, where they are volunteering for wildlife projects, environmental studies, and preservation of local nature preserves. So perhaps in those few, there is still some hope. As far as world problems – well – I’ll leave that for another post some other day. 
I apologize Mark – won’t do it again
– maybe I am also infected by the winterblues that drives me crazy slowly. Btw – no good here for photographing – no light, between awfully wet – simply nasty – and ice cold winds. There is no wayto go out! That’s why I hate winter here in the city so much. Even “my” pigeons on the balcony are getting crazy and are vandalizing everything – LOL!