The Sibley Guide to Birds – the most popular, most comprehensive, and fastest-selling printed field guide to North American birds – is now available in digital form as an app for several mobile phone platforms.
Scroll down for a description of features. FAQ and trouble-shooting is here.
| The entire content of the Sibley Guide to Birds – over 6600 images, every word of text, 800 range maps – along with the songs and calls of nearly every species… and all in your pocket! |
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Features
All of the content of the printed book is carried over to the electronic edition:
- Over 6600 images of 810 species
- Every species illustrated in flight and perched, and every major variation of age, season, or sex is shown
- Detailed descriptions of songs and calls, comparing similar species
- Detailed coverage of subspecies and regional variation
- Detailed maps show winter and summer range, and also migratoin and rare occurrence
- Measurements of length, wingspan, and weight for every species
In addition, the eGuide does things a printed book can’t do:
- Play audio recordings of over 2300 different calls and songs, contributed by Lang Elliott, Kevin Colver, and others, the most complete collection of North American bird sounds available in a single package
- Filter species to show only the birds found in a single state or province, or only the most commonly-seen species
- Filter species by color, shape, size, and habits
- Personal sightings log
- Many future improvements planned
Easy and intuitive navigation
In designing this app I wanted to make the navigation easy and intuitive, requiring a minimum of “taps” or “clicks” to get to the important information.
Find any species in seconds by typing a few letters of its name, or by scrolling through the list (either alphabetically or taxonomically)
Swipe left or right from any species to view the previous or next species in the list1
Swipe up and down to scroll through the full series of images for each species
Tap images to view full screen, and rotate to landscape mode for even larger images
Tap text to view full screen
Icons lead to map, audio, and list features
Filter species by region, and also by the most commonly seen species in that region
Filter by size, color, shape, and habits
The only eGuide that allows you to compare two species images, maps, or sounds at once on the same screen (examples below)
How to use the guide
The updated interface uses swiping motions to navigate: up and down for images of the same species, left and right for other species. Buttons for map and sounds are on the upper right.
A tap on the image expands it to full screen, swiping your finger up and down scrolls through all images of the species, while swiping left or right moves to previous and next species.
Turning the device expands the image further to fill the screen in landscape view, swiping up or down scrolls through all images of the species.
Tapping the text instantly makes it full screen, and rotating to landscape view increases the size of the text for easier reading.
Maps are now higher resolution and can be viewed full screen.
Comparisons of any two species (or even two variations of the same species) are easy to set up, and swiping either species up or down scrolls through all images of that species, while swiping the top image left or right moves to previous or next species.
Comparison species can also be viewed side-by-side in landscape mode simply by turning the device.
Tapping the "voice" icon while in the compare screen makes it easy to compare songs and calls of any two species.
Comparing platforms
The iPhone and Android versions are essentially identical to each other in content and functionality, with only very minor differences. The biggest differences will be seen in the lower resolution screens of some devices running Android OS, but when comparing the app on devices with similar screens users should see virtually no difference between them other than a few inherent differences in user interface.
Resources
A discussion forum for users of the product can be found here, please feel free to join in, leave comments, tell us what you like or don’t like. We will be continuing to develop the program.
Instructions and tips for using the program are here
Read an interview with David about the iPhone guide at Birder’s World here
Developed by MyDigitalEarth
Notes
- non touch-screen devices use buttons and menus to achieve a similar functionality [↩]
As pointed out by Rob McDonough.
Blackberry Version.
Thank you for alerting us to this issue.
Yes we have found an issue with some of the sounds, the sounds for the species are correct, but in a couple of the species the order is mixed up, we have noted this error and will be including a fix for this in the next release (3-4 weeks time).
Regards
mydigitalearth development team
Is there any word on the update that will fix the order of the sounds for certain species, or when the next release will be forthcoming? Thanks in advance.
Rob McDonough
Checked in about a month ago to see if the update to the Blackberry app would be fixed so that the order of the sounds matches the buttons within each bird species. Please let me know at your earliest convenience at the email above.
Thank you in advance.
Rob McDonough
I live in Mexico in the winter and use my Anroid T-Mobil Comet phone in both Mex. & US by changing the sim cards. I am now in Mexico and unable to access Sibley’s. When I try and open it, it says it is validating the license and then says the application has stopped unexpectedly. Please help. There are a lot of cool birds down here and I need the app.
Issues…when are all the issues going to be fixed. Why was this setup to require an internet connect to install the app? The file for a manual installation doesn’t even create the correct folder. This refers to the Android version. Looks like a great app if I could get it installed and it worked properly.
In response to Brian’s Issue, An internet connection is required for OTA download of the application from the Android marketplace and licence validation. We have recreated the zip file with the full path eProducts\SibleyBirds\ “All resource files here”. When installing the resource files manually you will need to download the zip file http://www.mydigitalearth.com\download\android\SibleyAndroid.zip to your desktop, extract this file to your desktop, this will create a folder called SibleyAndroid, you can then copy the entire “eProducts” folder to the root of your media card. You can now proceed to run the app, the device will be scanned for the resource files and if copied correctly the app will start. You will need to be connected to the internet the first time to validate the licence.
Regards
mydigitalearth development team
Android zip file download link
http://www.mydigitalearth.com/download/android/SibleyAndroid.zip
Just wondering if there are any plans to release this app on Windows Phone devices? Have the book and it’s great and jealous of it being on my girlfriend’s iPhone. I’ve looked and there is only 1 bird guide app on WP7 but it’s all European birds. There’s a market for animal guides on WP7, hope you guys tap into it.
I second Muckey about WP7. It would be top on the Christmas list if it existed.
Thanks,
Dana
The developers tell me they’re getting close on the Windows Phone 7 version. Hopefully early 2012.
Will the Android version run on Android tablets running the Honeycomb version of Android? Specifically the Motorola Xoom.
I see the Blackberry Playbook is not able to download this app. Such a disappointment. Any chance of this happening soon?
The Sibley guide will work on Android Tablets running Honeycomb.
The launch date for the Blackberry Playbook version has not been finalised, it will coincide with the new OS release for Playbook planned for Q1 of 2012.
I have downloaded the latest update 1.7 for iphone and ipad. On my itouch I can no longer view past the first illustration for a species. After the first one the screen becomes blank although the scrolling still works. I see there are similar complaints on the itunes website.
The developers tell me they have solved the bug with iPod touch and the latest update, and expect to be submitting a new update that fixes it within a couple of days. Thanks for your patience.
I was having phone difficulties this AM and got to wondering if the phone went dead how would I keep a copy of my app. It is on an HTC android unit and as far as I can tell it is not backed up anywhere.
Good day Don,
The application is linked to the Google account with which you purchased it from the Android Market. If your phone is factory reset or formatted then the application would be uninstalled but you would simply need to visit the Android Market and download it again – no purchase necessary.
The data for the application is typically stored on the SD Card and should that be formatted, it would require a re-download of the original data again.
I hope that answers your question?
Regards,
mydigitalearth development team
I am very happy to hear of a bird guide to the windows 7 phone also. Can’t wait for it to appear!
thanks
I use the Sibley app (version 1.7) on my iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0.1. When I switch to another app and then back to the Sibley app about 95% of the time the Sibley app crashes and has to be restarted – it will not pick up where it left off before switching to another app (by double-clicking the home button).
Is this a known problem? Is there a fix in the works?
Thanks
James Ferris
Are you developing the bird and tree app for the Nook tablet?
We are currently looking into the Barnes and Noble Nook tablet at the momment. We will definately be publishing the app for this device and will post a proposed release date shortly.
Regards
mydigitalearth development team
Just want to add a “me too” to the request for a Nook tablet version. Thanks and looking forward to it.
Sorry I purchased the Sisley app for my I pad and cannot get into the sight.
What do I need to do?
Ed Coyle
Hi Ed, Sorry to hear that. I’ve forwarded your question to the developers and I’m sure they’ll get it sorted out quickly.
Will the eapp work on an ipad2?
Yes, it works great on iPad2
I too am surprised that it will not work on a Blackberry Playbook especially as Blackberry’s reduced price has resulted in a flood of new playbooks out in general use. I’m one of those who now have a Playbook and am disappointed. I will search out other options especially for calls. One good thing about the Playbook is the easy access to the web via your Blackberry. In Saskatchewan that gives me coverage almost anywhere. So in the field if I can open some websites with bird songs on them and since I always have paper Field Guides in my car then I might find I don’t need an AP for birds. Of course if I had one and was using it first then that is what I’d get used to.
I’m using the iPhone app. The illustrations are beautiful but I wish the search function could be improved. I’m new to birding and it’s hard to identify anything from a big long list of bird names. It would be great if you could improve the browsing. For example, there could be a black silhouette of the most prominent bird in the family and when you click on that, a color icon for each bird. That would help a lot. It would also be great if you could support eBird like some other apps (but that is less important to me than improving the browsing). I hope that’s possible.
Jonah, thanks for your comments on the app. I agree the search methods could be better, but for now one solution is to select your state and check the box to “show only common birds”. That will limit the results to the 100 or so most frequently seen species, and if you don’t find a match there you can easily uncheck the box to see all species for the state.
all of a sudden bird calls won’t work– iphone version
Hi Jane, check that the mute button on the side of the phone is switched off (although in latest versions of the app that has no effect on the sounds). I’ve forwarded your comment to the developers, and I’m confident they can get it sorted out.
Hi Jane
Please also make sure that the application volume is turned up – when you are at a species with a sound tap on the sound and when it is playing turn the volume up (using buttons on side of device). This volume control is different to the main ringer volume control.
Regards
mydigitalearth.com team
I have the guide on my android phone and have a kobo ereader tablet that also has an android system. Is it possible to download the program to this device and if so do I need to re-purchase.
Thanks
From the developers:
“If your Kobo reader has a colour display, runs the Android OS and has access to the Android Marketplace then you should be able to install and run the application on your device.
You can login to the Android market place with the same credentials you used on your Android phone, browse to Sibley Birds and select purchase, the app store will give you the option to reinstall the app. You will not have to pay again.
I have not physically had a Kobo reader in my hands yet so I don’t know the device well, If you have any issues with this please let us know.”
Any news about progress on a Windows Phone version??
I just heard from the devlopers that the Windows Phone 7 version is ready to submit to the store and should be available very soon.
I’m a big fan of the Sibley’s Guides in print. Previously I had installed Sibley’s Birds app successfully on a BB Storm2. Recently I “upgraded” to a BB Torch but cannot get things going with this app. When loading the app I get the initial screen page which directs me to load the resource files but the remaining part of the page that I assume tells me how to do this is not displayed. Swipe scrolling and pinch zoom do not work while this page is displayed and no menu button options help. That’s as far as I can get with it. Is this a common problem with the BB Torch? I have been in contact with at least one other person with the same problem on this device. Any help is appreciated
Hi Earl, I haven’t heard of this myself but I’m forwarding your comment to the developers and hopefully they can get it sorted out for you and anyone else having that problem.
Wow! This was a quick response. Thank you so much. I am really inpressed with your post-sale involvement with your product.