If you’re sunbathing at Hapuna and a flock of nene lands nearby, pick up your smartphone and give a heads-up to the folks at national birdwatch central. If you’re hiking on Mauna Kea and spot endangered palila feeding in mamane trees, just type the info into BirdLog, a popular new data entry app.
If you’re sunbathing at Hapuna and a flock of nene lands nearby, pick up your smartphone and give a heads-up to the folks at national birdwatch central. If you’re hiking on Mauna Kea and spot endangered palila feeding in mamane trees, just type the info into BirdLog, a popular new data entry app.
“A satisfying day of bird watching used to be followed by tedious time spent transferring observations from notebook to computer. No more. Now there’s BirdLog, a data entry app for iPhone and Android smartphones,” said Pat Leonard of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
For the first time, bird watchers can use their smartphones to instantly report the birds they see, from wherever they see them. With one click, sightings go straight to the eBird citizen-science program run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon.
EBird takes in more than a million bird reports each month from anywhere in the world.
“These reports are used by a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists and conservation biologists,” explained Leonard. BirdLog was developed by Birds In The Hand, creators of the popular BirdsEye bird-finding app, which is also based on eBird reports.
“Bird watchers have waited for in-the-field data entry for years,” said eBird leader Marshall Iliff. “BirdLog’s simple interface not only makes it easy; it maximizes the usefulness of sightings for birding, science and conservation.”
Fully integrated with the eBird online reporting system, BirdLog allows users to select from thousands of existing eBird Hotspots and personal bird-watching locations, or to use the built-in GPS services of the phone to allow easy and accurate creation of new locations. Users can create lists in BirdLog even if there is no cell coverage at their location.
“We hear phrases like ‘revolutionize birding’ all too frequently,” noted eBird’s Chris Wood. “But BirdLog will actually do it! BirdLog will fundamentally change the way we go birding, making it easier than ever for birders to share observations among themselves and with the science and conservation community.”
BirdLog North America and BirdLog Worldwide are available via the iTunes app store and at the Google Play app store for Android devices. A portion of the proceeds goes to fund research and conservation work at the Cornell Lab.
“The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a membership institution dedicated to interpreting and conserving the earth’s biological diversity through research, education and citizen science focused on birds,” said Leonard. Visit the Cornell Lab’s website at http://www.birds.cornell.edu. The postal mailing address is: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850.