Reviews for eBird by Cornell Lab

Great app, love the Cornell Lab of Ornithology! Only issue is that on Android, ebird won't import previous observation from before installing the app, or of you delete and reinstall the app. Also, I cannot share the checklist after I have submitted the checklist. Another bug is that you cannot upload photos on the ebird app. Not a huge issue for me, since I process photos on my computer before adding it. I think that would be a huge plus if you could optimize these things for Android! Thanks!

Have always enjoyed the app, but the last update did not improve it. In the past you could choose quickly from recent hotspots or locations. Now it forces you to use your location and then you have to change it from there. They claim this update gets you birding faster, but I have not found that to be true. Also, when I try to change location to a hotspot, it often says I don't have network connection and can't do so, even when network is working fine.

I love eBird, no question about it. However, to do literally anything with the app, location has to be on, which is very unnecessary except for recording track. It should be possible to set a default location for Explore and My eBird, rather than being forced to turn location on every time I open the app. It's incredibly annoying that you have to use 24-hr time if you change the time of the checklist. Being able to upload media would also be helpful.

SO CLOSE to being great. This app is packed with information, making it particularly valuable for new birders like me. That said, I only watch in my backyard and do not wish to "record track." I made sure to toggle "record track" off. Still, the app attempts to "determine my location" as soon as I change tabs. I end up stuck in a loop until I turn location on and it's very frustrating. I'd love to have an "offline" version where you can navigate without messing with location settings.

NOT USER FRIENDLY! It's difficult to quickly add a single bird without doing the whole checklist business. You have to "name" the locations for whatever reason, even though they have the gps data. You can't download all 50 states at once, it's state by state. Viewing your life list is way too complicated as well. The only thing that's good is it's the only app that has a complete list of all birds worldwide. If you're just in the US, however, Audubon is far superior.

The app is one of the best resources to start looking for bird species. Been using the app for over a year and never had anything major to complain about. But just today, something seems to have broken. There's a "download error (unable to update)" dialog showing up at every startup. Haven't been able to use the app on Android today.

Easy to use app that helps you submit your birding checklists. The newly added "My eBird" functionality shows you how many species you have seen in a given area that year, how many you were at in previous years, etc. The automatic GPS tracking for time and distance in traveling checklists is also a bonus. Every year the app gets better! Can't wait to see what they add next.

After taking the "eBird Essentials" course, I found the app easy to use in the field. It is extremely helpful when there are more than a few birds, or when you will be moving around the site for more than a few minutes, because it offers quick data entry and automatic tracking of time and distance. Initially I encountered an error about downloading a bird list when trying to choose a location but this later disappeared. Recommend that developer removes the bird list download at this point.

Could be great but there are a lot of problems. The new update was meant to bypass entering a location until you were ready. The problem is, you still have to have your GPS on before you can start a list. If you don't use your GPS, it now takes longer to start a list than before the update. Merlin is a great app on its own, but it should be a part of ebird. You should be able to ID a bird through Merlin on the ebird app instead of switching back and forth. Also, life list? No, Merlin has it?

Since the update, the app is hardly usable out of cell range. Today, with location on and GPS apps working fine, Ebird struggled for 3 minutes and never was able to find a location though I was in open country. I then was able to scroll through all the countries in the world to find a US list. Why not let us open a recent location first and then edit it later? Very frustrating. Pixel 3/Android 10.

The location setting is so problematic. I can't just enter an address or drop a pin on map. So I went to use their web version and it's impossible via chrome. Every time you try to zoom the keyboard pops up and then zooms you all the way out. I'll try on the laptop later. The time date and location on the checklist screen are not intuitively clickable/changeable. Took awhile to figure that out. It wants to track duration for some reason. I like their other app, Merlin. Hope this one gets better.

I find it really annoying that there is a mandatory non-skippable, no disable, checking for updated bird lists in an area. In every new area you visit, even 5 miles apart. If i am in an area of poor signal this can take 10 minutes or more to complete. Not worth it. I don't care about an updated bird list. I want to catalog what I see, quickly & move on to using my phone for other things while enjoying the outdoors. 98% of the time that is birds have seen before and I'm updating counts.

First off, I love eBird on the PC. The app is a bit problematic. It is extremely annoying to spend 4 hours logging bird sightings only to have it tell you "There was an error submitting your checklist." No hint as to what the error is, just will not submit. I like the mapping and the app in general, but kinda useless if you can't submit.

The app is ok. It's easy to enter checklists. But there are alot of functionality problems. I can't seem to share checklists with people after I've submitted them. And I can't seem to view other birders' checklists. I also tried repeatedly to figure out how to post my pictures. I know it can be done, because other birders post pics, but I can't figure out how to do it on my phone. Maddening.

I really like the idea of this. especially the citizen reporting aspect and checklists that match your region. but it would be a lot easier to identify the birds on the checklist if we could see pictures (female, male, young, mature, etc) and supporting info to go along so we can learn a bit more about that bird (migration, mating habits, habitat and nests, etc). look forward to future updates! edit: thank you for the response! I download the companion app and love it!

I love this app, except, for now, it is hung up and i can't put in a location for a sighting. I just keep on getting an error of updating list, which never happens. Also, i have to agree with another reviewer, it would make more sense and easier for the user to enter one sighting at a time rather than compile a list to submit (which isn't working anyway). Also, i don't understand the interaction between Merlin and eBird. It would be easier if a sighting verofied through Merlin flowed through

It's a nice idea, but it's too complicated for a simple life list. I just want something that let's me search a database by bird and fill in the rest manually. I don't need timers and checklists. Also, it should just be part of the Merlin app, especially since the bird packs have to be downloaded twice (and eBird doesn't have an option for all of North America, just each state).

This is for computer friendly hard core bird watchers. I appreciate their work to chart birds and allow people around the world to contribute data for bird conservation. For an amateur like me who only wants to identify birds around me and learn about them, this app is too complicated. They offer an online class, but I don't want school. I tried this to be apart of the bird count week, but now my Merlin app won't accept new birds to my life list. I've tried all the fixes, but too complicated.

Update has made the app basically unusable. It crashes whenever I do basically anything. Anytime I use the explore function, check submitted checklists, or have the app running in the background and then open it up - bam, crash. Aside from the nonstop crashes, the inability to edit the time or distance without deleting the entire track is asinine. The auto-detection of overlap, but not being able to account for continuing to bird after prematurely stopped the track (or the app crashes) is dumb.

As a daily birder, eBird has completely changed the way I keep track of my sightings. It’s super easy to use, and I love how I can log checklists, explore hotspots, and even get alerts for rare birds in my area. The “Explore” tab helps me discover new places to bird, and I like seeing what birds have been reported near me. Another thing that I really like is, that my checklists are going towards conservation and scientific data.