When recording your observations in natural journaling, the necessity for some tools may make the experience more informative as well as more accurate.
Birding is a very popular hobby and pairs perfectly with nature journaling. There are multiple print research quality publications that have apps on the market to assist with easy identification. The apps have the added benefit of keeping lists of sightings for the avid to mildly interested birders.
I use eBird and Merlin Bird ID as they are free of charge and can be downloaded directly from your Play Store. The lack of subscription fees was the reason why I chose to use it initially to evaluate it and I have not looked back since. The collection of bird identification packs on the app for southern Africa has been helpful in Namibia, the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Kruger National Park where I have used it to record bird sightings.
Cost of Apps
App | Provider of Information | Cost |
eBird and Merlin Bird ID | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Free |
Newman’s Birds | R399.99 | |
Gibbon Multimedia | R499.00 | |
Penguin Random House South Africa | R379.99 |
The prices were valid in 1 September 2024
Merlin
Merlin is a global bird guide with photos, sounds, maps and more, made available from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and can be used independently from eBird (where you count the species you find etc.) to identify birds in three easy steps (I included an image below). Birds can be identified using their calls using SoundID which listens to the bird or with a photo with the PhotoID function.
eBird
eBird is a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and with the identifying power of Merlin can be used to track the lists of species you spot and the date and geographical tags that go with it.
App Talk
What birding apps do you use?
Or are you old school and use the books for identification instead?
To read more about nature journaling and Citizen Science, see this page
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