National Geographic Birds: Field Guide to North America App Reviews

images are top notch. app works but needs refinement. the makers have promised the improvements needed such as more flexible searching and notetsking ability. It would also be nice to zoom in on images similar to the zoom in the Photo app.

Pluses + bird illustrations are high quality National Geographic illustrations + song recordings included & easily accessible + less costly than competition Minuses -plates are *much* too small (about 1/4-1/2 the size of the same plates in the field guide) to see real detail -search frustrating (four different search types, if you search for "Goldfinch" hits only appear in one) -lists similar species, but does not provide links to them to do immediate comparisons

I purchased this app thinking itd have to be great - I mean, its from National Geographic right? Meh, not so much. There are no photos at all. In my opinion, illustrations are an artists interpretation of what the bird looks like, and quite often dont even really look the bird - I like the photos for comparison. There is also no way to make any sort of list. I wanted to select the birds that I have in my area and add them to some sort of list, but you cant do that in this app. I bought this app and iBird Explorer Canada - there is no comparison. Buy iBird and leave this one here (unless you want to use this is a back up to the other). I get the feeling that Nat Geo rushed to get this in to the App Store and didnt really put the effort in to developing it. It should be a lot better than it is.

This book does not have very many photographs as I was expecting. In fact I havent found ANY at this point. They are all sketches. It is hard to navigate. iBird Explorer is FAR BETTER.

This app crashes as soon as I go to the Overview or any other tab. I am so disappointed. I really thought that NG would have a better product and I paid so much for it.

The earlier version of this app was simply pathetic, basically just scanned pages. They have finally joined the smartphone age and made an app that takes advantage of the smartphone interface. It is intuitive and loaded with great information. Very well designed and it finally gives the Sibley app some real competition. Well worth the money for any serious birder. Suggestions: - Allow the image plates to be resized to the full screen. - eBird integration for lists

Great App very informative!

I have pretty much all of the main birding apps for my phone. This previous version of this about was my absolute least favorite of them all. However, since the redesign it has now become my hands down favorite. Very well done. One thing I feel that is missing is filtering by species. I find it helpful to be able to narrow your search by species when trying to identify an unknown bird.

This is a very easy app to use. The search feature is simple to follow and the illustrations are very clear. I wish that the birds of Mexico and Central America were included or have their own app. All species that I have had to look up, I have managed to find, so to me it seems that most species have been inluded.

This application keeps crashing, plus i had several lists saved and all the lists and data have been lost

I love this app but Im upset because the quizzes dont work for me. And I really want to ace them

Good art work but not very usable app. After visiting 10th species the App is removed because of memory pressure. Adding to an existing list takes too many taps. Bad location of "create new list" option. It gets in the ways of quickly adding to a list. Does not provide a way to create quick geographic lists for doing Big Day or Christmas counts.

Happy so far with this app. No issues.

I liked the app up until it vanished today. I tried to download it again but the iStore says I already downed it. Catch 22!

Love the app but was very disappointed to discover that it does not seem to consider Hawaii as part of North America. Most of the birds Ive seen here are not listed in this app. :(

I use this app weekly, and cant get a better app for the price. Would like to see an update with more calls added and real life pictures. Have a hard time identifying some birds because the artwork is a little off on some species. I know I could use google images along with, but most times Im outta cell coverage. Overall its a great starter birding app!!

Wonderful app with beautiful illustrations and plenty of information about many birds. Waiting for same app with birds of Europe

5 stars for the design, clear presentation of material (especially if you like the printed NGS guide like I do), and vocalizations (the sonograms are a nice touch) but 3 stars for the lack of at least annual updates and app upkeep. Like all of the natural sciences, ornithology and taxonomy are constantly changing and it puzzles me why this app doesnt bother to stay current with currently accepted AOU and ABA taxonomy.

Took advantage of the price break to get v2.0 (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.

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.