Leave a Review Costa Rica Birds
Could Use Improvement
As a beginner I think it could use more filters such as throat patch or head color. Also more pictures than just one to show the opposite sex or from different angles. The ability to enlarge the photo would also be helpful (I have an iphone5).Chas 99
Avid Birder
The alphabetical list by Name is on the first name and is virtually useless.
The alphabetical list by Group is sorted on the name of the first bird in the group. For example Grosbeaks, Buntings & Allies is listed under G. You would have to know the Buntings are in this group, since you can’t look it up alphabetically. There is a workaround. Click on Filter Bird List top right of screen. Click on Group, the first box. If Alphabetic is showing on the top right of the screen, select it and an Alphabetic listing of the bird groups appears. Much easier to scroll through this list to pick up other birds in the list, for example Sparrows in the Group Seedeaters, Finches & Sparrows. Selecting the list of interest allows you to return to the bird filter screen, shows the number of birds found, and by selecting <Back at top right returns to the bird list showing only the selected group.
The alphabetical list by Group has two selections for G, S, and T. None for F, R, or V.
Searching for a Orioles using the search engine as described above returned 0 birds. If this happens try resetting.
Use of hyphenation in birds with two last names, like Bush-Thrush, is inconsistent. Sometimes it is Bush Thrush. There are numerous examples of this in both first and last name fields.
It would be very helpful to use the Audubon approach lumping birds by how they look, such as Long Legged Waders, Ducklike , Shorebirds etc.
I ended up entering Family, Group, First Name, Last Name in an Excel spreadsheet allowing sorting by any of these headers, then adding a column with the Audubon categorization to search on to make a quick reference guide for the field.Show lessRCEBirder
Nice info, but hard to use
This app has a lot of data, and it is great to be able to carry around all of the birding info in your pocket. However, as another commenter pointed out, it is hard to search. You can filter birds by color, etc., but you cannot search by name. If you want to find a Quetzal for instance, the only way to do it is to scroll down the list of 622 birds until you get to “R” (R because it is listed by its full name … resplendent quetzal).
if you are an expert birder that is comfortable with bird names, etc., this app might be useful. For a beginning birder that just wants to get an idea of what they are seeing on a trip to Costa Rica, it is not very useful.Show lessRon from Oswego
Biologist, retired
I used this in Nicaragua and it was a big help. Shortcomings: alphabetical listing is by the first word in the common name. You can't search for "dove, inca" or "dove, mourning", you have to search for "inca" or "mourning" which makes no sense at all. The photos are wonderful.
Families are listed, but not in alphabetical order, a real drag.
It wouldn't take much to make this a great ap for us amateur birders.Show lessYoungalaska
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I used this guide in Southern Mexico, not being able to find a local guide book. I used it a lot, and found it at times frustrating. Why no Spanish names for birds? No search for bird names first or last. Visiting in May I would have appreciated if the filter function could have excluded the migrating birds.Show lessinyourfacetoo
Flaws
app helpful but has major needs. If looking at a bird, you cannot go back to where you started looking at that bird, but it reverts to the beginning. You then have to scroll thru it all again. Also no way to put in a search for bird looking for, for example, a tanager, but have to scroll down thru everything. Needs major update.Show lessbieder32
Great app
Great photos! Super app support! Haven't used it in Costa Rica yet, but am excited to do so this summer!Jinjerridge
Based on How it Works, Very Good.
We’re going to CR soon and I read about this; read about the developers; got it and ran it through some paces. It could use more pics of some of the birds but several are well illustrated. I cannot judge the correctness of data about the birds but two of the developers earn their livings leading bird watching tours in Costa Rica, where they all live; I can’t imagine they’d want to be associated with shoddy information.
As I write there are 578 birds in the app. You can filter them by Group, by Region/Stratum, by Color, Size, Head Pattern, Underparts, Back and Sound. Each one (I haven’t viewed them all) has information consisting of Field Marks, Description, Habitat, a range map and a place for you to write notes.
Of the birds in the filter you can sort them alphabetically or by group or family.
I’m impressed by the job they’ve done and I look forward to using the app in CR. If they had a few more pics and some more sounds I’d give it a 5.Show lesstravlin hoosier
Disappointed
Few and poor quality photos, poorly organized, many likely birds missing. This app is NOT worth the cost!!! Worst app I've ever purchased.ElectroZman
Finally! A great app for Costa Rica birds
I love birding in Costa Rica, but carrying around a printed field guide is not a favorite part of it. This new app is just what I have been waiting for! It doesn't have all the birds that can be seen in Costa Rica - for example, it doesn't have the Solitary Eagle. But it does have everything you're likely to see, and I'm sure the developers will continue to seek out and photograph those rarely seen species that are missing. I like the search features and I like being able to see the birds either by alphabetical listing or by family. You can mark in notes whether the bird was seen or heard, which I very much like. And, the maps help a lot. I can hardly wait for updates, such as being able to make lists for ebird.Show lessCostaRican birder
