[texbirds] iPhone as a Birding Tool class report

From: "Kleb Woods (Commissioner Pct. 3)" <klebwoods@xxxxxxxx>
To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:42:11 +0000

The iPhone as a Birding Tool class at Kleb Woods last Friday was attended by 
some experienced iPhone users, but the majority of participants were keen to 
learn the basics.  While these basics are good for all, they are critical for 
birders.  The class covered organizing your apps, creating folders, and saving 
battery power.  We then talked in detail about how to use some of the apps that 
come with your phone which are extremely useful for birders including the 
camera (great for digiscoping), voice memos (for recording bird calls), and 
maps.  A lot of time was spent on the maps app.  Participants learned how to 
search for and get directions to different birding locations, how to bookmark a 
specific point on a map (such as a place where you found a hawk nest), how to 
view the map in satellite mode (so you can look for patches that might be good 
for birds), etc.
The last part of the class focused on bird apps you can purchase.  For 
participants who only wanted to spend money on one app, I recommended iBird.  
This is a good app that covers most of the basic things you want in a bird app. 
 For participants who wanted the best suite of bird apps, I recommended 
Kendra's 4 Essential Birding Apps.  These are Bird Tunes (best collection of 
bird calls I have found so far that don't break the bank like BirdJam), Bird's 
Eye (best app for finding birds that have been seen recently), Bird Log (if 
you're an ebird user), and the Sibley eGuide to North American Birds (best 
field guide app).  We also briefly looked at the National Geographic and 
Peterson apps as well as Birdwatcher's Diary, which is a bit too complicated 
for the casual bird app user.  If anyone has a suggestion for a bird app I 
didn't cover that would be good for the class, please let me know.

If there is enough interest, we will do the class again next year.



Kendra Kocab
Naturalist: Kleb Woods Nature Center
Commissioner Steve Radack
Harris County Precinct 3
www.pct3.hctx.net<http://www.pct3.hctx.net>


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[texbirds] iPhone as a Birding Tool class report

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