Birds of New Zealand User Reviews

Top reviews

All the birds …but

All the birds are here. But the photos leave a lot to be desired often with limited visibility of diagnostic features. Wish they would update and expand.

Too old for the new system

This app is completely out of date: there is no link with eBird, so do not contribute to global science; there is no easy way to identify birds; it does not have a good index.
For $40, this is a rip-off.
Please, apple, take that away and reimburse the customers...

Average

I appreciate the effort that has been put in, but this app is expensive so I expected more. Audio for a lot of bird calls is bad, pictures and descriptions are good, except for points mentioned in above reviews. I hope the developers check out Birds of Peru for some
inspiration.

Excellent field companion to NZ birding

I got this app after having bought the book (in retrospect, the app on my phone + iPad was more than sufficient). Very easy to use and stable. Location-specific filtering helped me both with IDs and with planning my trip. Calls and songs proved very useful as well. Thanks for the awesome app/bird reference!
Show less

Update

Are we ever going to see a content update?

Disappointing

Have been no updates in over a year and as mentioned in another review the green and goldfinch photos are around the wrong way, which makes me suspicious of what else might be wrong.
There are only one or two bird calls per species, not a good representation.
I only use this when I have no internet connection, otherwise there are much better websites.
Not worth it for the money.
Show less

Comprehensive first effort, some refinements required

Good field guide, though expensive for this kind of app. Certainly a comprehensive collection of NZ Birds here. All the basic info, and a good selection of sample photos. Inability to search by common names is a minor inconvenience, and this would be a welcome addition. Some birds are listed under names less commonly used; though the other names are then listed on the entry, once you've found it. There are some errors that need to be fixed in this edition, such as having Greenfinch and Goldfinch photos on the wrong birds page.

A disappointing aspect of this app however is the apparently mildly racist undertones regarding for example the distinctions between Maori and English names, such as the following text 'Maori name - it is a lovely onomatopoeic name. English name - no other good English name has ever been proposed, and why should one have been?'. These odd and unnecessary remarks crop up on a number of entries and would best be omitted in subsequent editions.

Overall a good start. I look forward to future refinements, and it would be nice to see the above criticism addressed. Given the high price of this app, one would expect some effort will be put into support and further development.
Show less

Alternatives to Birds of New Zealand