Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Do you Like Birds??

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One of the things that I love the most about my iPad and iPhone is the tremendous variety of apps available.

Ever since we first took off in the motorhome, we suddenly became excited about the tremendous number of birds we'd see wherever we went. While we're not serious birders, we sure find them fascinating.

When I first got an iPod touch, I found a new (at the time) app named iBird Explorer Pro. I purchased it and have been quite happy with it. But since that time, a lot of other bird and nature apps have become available.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to see that Peterson's Birds of North America is currently on sale for $4.99 (down from $14.99). Like the great books these people put out, the app features beautiful illustrations, photographs, bird calls, the ability to keep a personal list, and so much more.

While I love all these apps, they can become expensive (because sadly, I'm an admitted app junkie . . .).

But if, like me, you love a bargain, here's a tip. I've signed up with a website called AppShopper.com, where you can mark which apps you're interested in and when they go on sale, they send you an email!

When you look at the price of most birding books, the apps are less expensive, and in many ways much better. For those of us in a motorhome, they certainly weigh less and take up less room. And for me, the best part is that once you buy them, they get updated regularly, so instead of having to buy a new book every couple of years, you're pretty much covered. Plus, if like us, you have multiple devices (iphones, iPads) you only have to buy an app one time and you can share it across all your devices.

I also love that when we're out looking at birds, I usually have my phone with me, whereas I've never had a bird book handy when I was needed one!

If you're into birds (or wildflowers, trees, mammals, butterflies, whatever) I suggest you take a look in the app store, because there's a lot of great things waiting for you to discover.

If you've found any other great nature apps, please let me know.

I assume these would also be available for those of you on Android devices, but you'll just have to search them out yourself, because (obviously) I'm a hard core Apple girl (no pun intended).


2 comments:

Gaelyn said...

I just never look at apps. Usually I take photos and then look things up when I get home to my field guides.

Except at work, then I carry field guides.

Hmm... you might have something here.

Donna K said...

Hard core Apple girl...hahaha! At least you're not a rotten apple...

We got a bird app for the Fire and I really like it. so much easier than carrying a book.