# Birdwatcher's Diary — user reviews > 53 indexed App Store user reviews of Birdwatcher's Diary by Stevens Creek Software LLC, rated 3.80/5 from 5 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/birdwatchers-diary/id372848006/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/birdwatchers-diary/id372848006.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (13 of 53) ### 3/5 — Update *2023-06-13* This app is okay my problem is they need to update. When you look at the number of species seen by state they are way off NM shows 527. Just looked in eBird and the actual number is 558. Their are better apps for Birding but when people spend money on something they should keep it up to date. ### 4/5 — Works Great *2021-07-30, version 8.2* Have had this app for several years and it does a great job of recording sightings. Like that you can record heard only birds. Another nice feature is you can upload to a listserv, Facebook or Twitter. You can tailor your locations to exact locations which is really convenient for future Birding trips. ### 4/5 — Birdwatcher's Diary *2014-03-22, version 6.1.3* This is a great App for recording bird sightings. I particularly like the fact that it can Capture GPS Data and that recordings can be loaded directly into eBird. I have recomended it to my Local birdlife Australia group. ### 5/5 — Love the flexibility *2014-01-09, version 6.1.2* I have been using this for several months locally and abroad, and am deeply impressed by it’s flexibility. The automatic recording of locations, ability to switch in and out different species lists, using own lists rather than provided ones, all work well for me. It is complex software, and there are odd bugs and infelicities, but overall it works very well, is very stable and robust (I have never lost an observation through fault of this software). Having tried a number of different ways of recording software on handheld devices over about 10 years (no way I am going back to notebook and pen), I’m sticking with this one for a while. ### 5/5 — Outstanding app for birders *2014-01-07, version 6.1.2* This app is a game changer. No more need for a notepad to keep track of species and numbers seen. The app also records the time and GPS info for your sightings. At the end of the day you can upload your info directly to Ebird or send your list by email. ### 5/5 — Love it! *2013-05-11* I try to keep lists of the birds I see and submit them to ebird but find that if I manage to keep the list I get lazy when it's time to do the data entry. This app takes care of both! I can easily keep a list in the field or the backyard and with just a couple of clicks submit it to ebird with no data entry needed! I've actually submitted more lists in the last two months than in all the time since ebird came out. It's a wonderful product and several friends have been impressed with mine and gotten it for themselves! Update for 5.0.1 The new features are GREAT! You can download lists directly from their servers, instantly adding them to your app. Now you can also upload directly to ebird instead of email and then uploading. This is so much faster and easier and allows you to upload lists while in the field. Nice! Another neat thing is uploading sightings and maps to Facebook. Want to share your great sighting? NO problem! I still use this app nearly every day and it just keeps getting better and better. Kudos to Steven's Creek Software. This is a fantastic app. Updating again. This app still rocks and Stevens Creek Software is great! They listen to their users and make corrections and add improvements quickly. It just keeps getting better and better and the customer service couldn't be better. ### 5/5 — Best birding list out there *2013-03-20* Updated review: I've been using this app for 3 years now, and I wouldn't even consider using another bird listing app. My paper notebook is entirely gone. Spot a bird, tap it on the list, enter the number, and you're done. Exact time and GPS coordinates are automatically recorded. It has a myriad of options to customize your experience and speed data entry. It also includes very rich query and reporting features, and (now) supports direct upload to eBird from within the app. One word of warning, it does take a llittle bit of practice to do the initial setup and get the hang of the UI. Absolutely spend an hour to read the user guide on-line, watch the tutorials, and try it for a few trial runs to get the settings right and get the hang of it. If you don't do this, you'll delete the app in frustration the first time you try to use it. But once you're up and going you'll never go back. One last note, customer support is very responsive (can't say the same for some competing apps). Problems or suggestions are promptly addressed - and that's worth a lot. ### 5/5 — A great tool for recording your sightings quick and easily. *2013-01-15* I read all the reviews before purchasing this app and was concerned because some users had reported the app as being difficult to learn. Our daughter bought BirdLog and was less than pleased because she reported it to be buggy and I therefore preferred to select an alternative app that works even if it was going to be difficult to master. If you are at all comfortable with use of spreadsheets or other simple data entry utilities, you will find this app very intuitive and easy to use. I spent an hour playing with the app while flipping through the excellent manual and mastered it to the point that I easily recorded all my sightings out on my dog walk this morning. I subsequently exported an eBird list to myself and imported the file as a comma delimited file and ended up with a nice list. The many different free lists of birds also are easy to import from within the app.....slick. Bottom line, I couldn't be happier and recommend this app to all bird listers. ### 5/5 — Excellent tool *2012-08-27* I've been using this product for over a year now. Even though there's a bit of a learning curve it's well worth the effort (really folks, just read the documentation). I've used Birdwatcher's Diary on Christmas Bird Counts and other field surveys and it's worked great; as a compiler for one CBC and co-compiler for a second, I'm very particular about keeping lists accurately. Now that the latest release directly uploads my lists to eBird from my iPhone, it's just indispensable. I tested it with two lists today, one that I created yesterday while in the field and one that I created back in June and archived but forgot to upload. Both were uploaded quickly (from my iPhone) and within a minute or so I was able to see the results in the "My eBird" area of eBird (from my laptop computer). Birdwatcher's Diary is a wonderful app and I highly recommend it. ### 4/5 — 50 Years Of Birding *2012-08-22* I've been using Birdwatcher's Diary (BD) for about a year now and loved it from the start. I've also been an ebirder since its inception. Initially it was a pain going through the download, save, upload to ebird routine. It was still easier that transcribing from my "Rite in the Rain". BirdLog offered a listing app that allowed direct upload to ebird so, I paid the, exorbitant $ for the app and used it for about a week. BirdLog wasn't bad but it was just a little more cumbersome. I really missed BD's quick tap system to get the info That I wanted to enter quickly so, I went back to using BD just because it was easier to use in the field and there is always more time back home to do the ebird entries. Now, with BD version 5.0.1 I can input data to ebird directly from BD...even in the field if I have cell or wi-fi coverage. I also us the North American Butterflies list that come with the app. I can't wait till you put out a mammals list so I don't have to do it myself...Yeah, I'm a little lazy. Thank you so much Stevens Creek Software. You guys rock. ### 3/5 — Birdwatchers Diary vs. BirdLog *2012-06-09* I have used this for over a year and still find it frustrating. Stevens Creek is a good organization and they really try. The main problem is that it is just too distracting to use in the field. Plus, you can't upload directly to eBird. I recently switched to BirdLog and it has been a great relief. BirdLog does not have as many features but it works! Until I switched to BirdLog, I was just recording my observations on a small digital voice recorder and than using BD to tally my observations at home and then uploading to eBird. Since switching to BL I have been tallying directly into the iPhone (using the voice recorder as a backup and/or when the observations were coming fast and furious). With BL, you can upload to eBird from the field! You cannot do this with BD. With BirdLog you can have more than one list going at the same time (not the single daily archive of BD-- which is very confusing). If you are making lists in the field, you should really be uploading to eBird. It makes you part of the "eyes and ears" of the planet. BL really make uploading to eBird quick and easy. I hope this helps. ### 5/5 — Excellent application *2012-05-25, version 4.3.1* I really like this app! I'm impressed with how well-thought out and powerful it is. The main idea behind this app is to help you enter your records quickly so that you have more time to bird, and they have done a great job achieving that goal. I keep all my official birding records in eBird, and I really appreciate that they have worked hard to fully support interfacing with my eBird records. I was able to import all of my historical eBird records into the app. And now I am using the app all the time whenever I create new records, and I have exported the new records out of the app and into eBird. Once you learn how to do all this, it is quite easy. I will say that you should be prepared to spend time learning this app, but that is not because poorly designed. It is more just because the app is powerful and it can do a lot. There are a few different screens and you need to kind of learn how these screens work, how to create new lists, add to them, change the location when you move to a different birding area, how to clear all the records on the screen after you've saved them to an archive, how to "recall" an old list of birds, etc. I don't think there is any way they could have made all of this immediately super easy or totally intuitive. The user manual is long, very well written and detailed. I recommend planning to spend time reading it (I printed it out-all 57 pages, and now they've updated it for the new release so it may even be a little longer). Now that I've read the manual and learned how to use the app, I'm very happy with it, but it did take a little time to really get "fluent" with the app. if you don't care about using eBird, it would be easier for you. The *reward* of putting in the time to learn the app is being able to keep bird lists very quickly. Also if you take time to learn this app it will make it MUCH easier to keep records for a "big day" of birding at say, 6 different locations. Birdwatchers Diary keeps track of all the different locations for you and you can export it all to eBird as a single file, and the file gets automatically separated out in eBird into lists for each different location. I will definitely use this app for Christmas Counts. I'm glad to see that Stevens Creek is actively working to improve and support the application. When I sent in a couple questions about managing the exporting of records to eBird, I received very prompt and articulate support. Finally, it is great that they are able to give a portion of the cost of the app to support local bird conservation education and research. When you consider that plus how well designed and powerful tha app is, it's an unbelievable bargain. ### 4/5 — May '12 upgrade *2012-05-15, version 4.3* Big improvement. Butt-dialing almost completely eliminated. I like the fact that I don't have to use a keyboard while in the field and scrolling & tapping takes exactly the same time as scribbling abbreviations in my note book. Final eBird upload from home PC probably makes for MORE accurate reports. Five stars if the manual weren't so dense. Still, definitely worth the $. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — No Longer Works *2025-04-14* There are so much better apps for Bird listing. This app will no longer upload to eBird. Have gotten no support. This app was last updated 3+ years ago! When people spend money on something they should keep it up to date!!! Wish they would take it down from the Apple App Store. ### 1/5 — Complicated and too easy to lose entries *2014-06-18, version 6.1.3* I am a serious birder and a computer programmer. I tried this app for two solid days. Brought me to my knees in frustration. Authors need to hire a couple of beta tester birdwatchers and video them trying to use it. Its very very easy to lose your entries. I deleted this app. ### 1/5 — Ridiculously complicated for something that should be simple *2012-12-23* I consider myself relatively tech-savy (I'm a GIS specialist in my job), but this requires several hours of time investment to get it to function. As far as I can tell, it really doesn't do anything that BirdLog doesn't do. Requires a lot of time and effort to even import a state list. The manual is 58 pages long, and is rambling and poorly organized. I do not need to be told about how great a feature is while trying to explain it. I need a simple step-by-step tutorial with superfluous junk left out of that process. The video does not even show how to import your lists, and the initial implication is the lists show up by default once you create a location. I finally managed to import a state list by trial and error, and by then, I was so disenchanted with the whole process, I deleted the app from my iPhone. ### 1/5 — Almost *2012-12-16, version 5.1* Could not get data to upload to ebird. ### 1/5 — What have you done? *2012-08-30, version 5.0.1* Just updated, now can't delete sighting, it just shuts down! Please sort ASAP. Otherwise powerful app. Update: now crashes if I add 'Calling' comment! Unusable. ### 1/5 — Waste of Time, Energy, and Money *2012-04-12, version 4.2.1* Horrible app!! Should not have to refer to a website for guidance. Apps are to make life easier. When birding there should be a joy to record sightings not frustrations. Other programs are much better. Refund!!??!! ### 1/5 — Waste of money! *2012-02-12, version 4.2* I'd give 0 stars if I could but 1 is the minimum apparently. I haven't used this app since I bought it and I've been waiting for field entry app for a long time. The platform is not intuitive and I wasted time trying to figure it out only to find it wasn't worth it. It's a good idea but not user friendly at all. The price should be reduced or the app fixed because it is not worth the price for what you get.....which is currently just a little picture of a Burrowing Ow on my phonel. Fail. ### 1/5 — Just Use a diary! *2010-07-13, version 0* Uninspiring interface Little advantage over simply writing down what you see Don't bother ### 2/5 — NOT USER FRIENDLY, FRUSTRATING *2015-05-11, version 7.0.4* This app crams a lot of features into a non-intuitive and convoluted interface - and for a steep price. It's stunning how this app forces the user to conform to its needs, rather then addressing yours. I'm in my early 40's, a fast learner with technology, and have a background in biology / ornithology. This app defeated me, even after time investment. As an example, even searching for a bird is difficult - the user cannot just type the common name (or any part of it), as in the Sibley guide. Instead, you must first choose a type of search, then if searching by common name, type either "first" or "last" name. It turns out that the entire phrase: "Pygmy-owl" is a last name: who knew? If you search for "owl" - "pygmy-owl" won't appear in the results, only owls with non-hyphenated names. Any search that doesn't hyphenate (or not hyphenate) exactly right leads to failure. If you forget that "northern" is part of the name for northern pygmy-owl - or try to type "pygmy" as the "first name"- it will loudly QUACK!! to point out your error. The app punishes you if you don't conform to the its rigid requirements (after all those QUACK noises, I wanted to throw my iPhone into the nearest creek)! Why not one simple search box, where you enter any part of the name, banding code etc, and let the user pick from search results??? And the menus for saving, retrieving or uploading lists are worse. The app presents a Rube Goldberg-ian array of options that can't be understood without exhaustive study of a manual. Try to save a bird list, assign it a location, or start a new list and you'll be stymied, or hounded by the app's annoying error quacks because you haven't met its demands (but without providing a straightforward solution). I've already lost one bird list completely, still can't change locations or dates, and accidentally deleted Savannah Sparrow from the available options for all my lists. If you truly want an app that feels like 1990s technology, it would be easier to learn MSDOS, figure out how to run it on your smart phone - then use it to write your own bird list app. For those who miss DOS commands, this app's demand for rigid syntax, it's use of non-intuitive jargon, and its multi step operations to accomplish seemingly simple tasks will fill you with nostalgia. I really tried. But if the developers feel like I should have studied the manual further, I disagree. I'm not someone who gives up easily, but the whole point of apps - like iPhones - is to make things relatively easy for the user to learn. I feel bad about leaving a negative review.I truly wish the developers the best - and I share their love of birds. But I feel I must warn people about this app. ### 2/5 — Impressive but impenetrable *2012-10-18* I can see that this app has a huge amount of functionality, and for tech-savvy birders with a large amount of time on their hands (enough time to literally read a dense 60 page user manual) this could be just the thing you are looking for. I do not have that kind of time, and I don't know many people who do. For this reason I wouldn't recommend this app to birders I know, and don't think I've gotten any value for my purchase other than satisfying my curiosity about what I was missing. For my personal uses, and I think the uses of the vast majority of birders, BirdsEye BirdLog serves the critical needs and is much, much simpler. I have also noted a great deal more errors in BD submissions to eBird since there is no presubmission notification of flagged bird sightings. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great addition to any birdwatcher's toolkit *2022-01-25, version 8.3* Very happy to see this great app is available again and working well😊 I've been using this app for many years now and have decided that I no longer need to take pen, paper and a GPS with me when I go birdwatching. Species encountered can be located with a couple of taps, recorded with another tap, notes about the encounter recorded with another couple of taps via the user-configurable phrase list. Downloading and installing the Australian list was simple. I have since downloaded the New Zealand list and used it when I was over there just recently. The ability to record multiple sightings of the same species has proved invaluable for the monitoring I do of Hooded Plovers during the breeding season. The ability to archive data locally and to DropBox is great, as is the ability to configure the format of the output (eg. CSV or TXT format, which fields to include/exclude). Highly recommended and well worth the money. Neil Shelley Victoria, Australia ### 5/5 — Parfait ou presque *2020-09-02, version 8.2* Je possède et utilise énormément cette application depuis 2012, au début sur un IPod touch et ensuite sur 2 IPhone (5 et maintenant 11pro). Je n’ai malheureusement pas testé sur d’autre plateforme. Un peu difficile à maîtriser au début car pas très intuitif. Une fois cette étape passée, l’application devient facile à utiliser. Je vous recommande fortement de vous accorder ce temps d’apprentissage et de ne pas juger négativement trop vite l’application. Vous en serez reconnaissant par la suite. Vous pouvez créer vos propres listes et les importer aisément dans Birdwatcher. Par exemple, j’ai utilisé le champ « Local name » pour inscrire le nom français et le champ « Note » pour le statut et l’abondance des espèces. Ce qui est très pratique car ensuite il est possible d’afficher 2 des 3 noms (anglais (common name), français, scientifique). Vous comprendrez que selon le lieu et les gens avec qui vous vous trouvez cela simplifie la communication. Je me crée aussi des listes particulières pour les voyages à l’extérieur de ma région et autres pays, ce qui permet d’avoir en tout temps des listes plus courtes. Pas nécessaire de tout saisir, récupérer les listes sur internet, les clubs d’ornithologie locaux en possèdent ainsi que les associations telle que l’AOU. Il est aussi possible de créer votre propre liste de phrases courtes qui peuvent être ajoutées en un simple click dans le champ note de l’observation. Très utile pour les notes qui reviennent fréquemment en évitant les erreurs de saisie et la complexité d’utilisation du clavier sur le téléphone. Je sauvegarde régulièrement sur le terrain les observations quotidiennes localement et sur Dropbox afin de ne rien perdre. Malheureusement, il faut exécuter les deux sauvegardes en deux opérations et, en plus un message de confirmation apparaît chaque fois lors de la sauvegarde locale ce qui est un peu irritant. Il est facile d’exporter le fichier produit et ensuite de l’importer dans Excel pour ajouter ces observations à votre carnet personnel. J’utilise très peu l’application pour fusionner les listes et les observations, je préfère grandement Excel pour ce genre d’opération. Par contre, sur le terrain, cette option est parfois utile pour rechercher une observation réalisée lors d'excursion antérieure. Le guide utilisateur sur le site web du fabricant n’est pas très précis. Il est difficile d’y repérer rapidement l'information que l’on souhaite obtenir. Le guide se résume à une seule longue page sans index ni hyperliens. Je vous recommande de la lire une fois ou deux pour bien comprendre le fonctionnement de l’application et y repérer les informations utiles à la configuration et personnalisation de l’application. Birdwatcher nécessite un rajeunissement et des améliorations mineures seraient souhaitables tant au niveau du fonctionnement que l’ajout de champs aux listes d’oiseaux et d’observations. Finalement, malgré les quelques irritants et le vieillissement, l’application fonctionne très bien et mérite grandement de prendre le temps requis à son apprentissage. ### 5/5 — Very good - stands out of the crowd *2019-01-09, version 8.2* Although a little bit cumbersome the first time you try it, after getting the hang of it this proves to be a rather resourceful, feature-rich and inventive app, that puts the focus of the activity in looking for birds itself rather than “playing” with an app while birding. It certainly stands out of the now crowded niche that is apps for recording birds sightings. It offers personalized tags, a very interesting and innovative scroll system to get quickly to a bird a long list, a visualxhearing sight differentiation feature and several options of downloadable lists in various languages that can be personalized both in terms of adding/deleting entries and the way it shows the lists (scientific/ English/ local language name) ### 5/5 — Useful in many ways. *2017-12-11* have used Birdwatcher’s diary for several years in the USA, Mexico, and South America. It is a wonderful program that greatly enhances the enjoyment of birding. It is easy to use in the field and at home in collating data. It provides a useful format for historical records, whether for personal use or for uploading to eBird. The Stevens Creek Software team is highly responsive to inquiries and in providing app updates when necessary. ### 5/5 — The Best Bird Listing Program for iOS! *2015-08-26* I own several bird listing software Apps for iOS, but Birdwatcher's Diary remains my top choice (I don't even bother with the other programs any more). I rely on it for recording observations nearly every day, and submitting them to eBird. I really like the fact that Birdwatcher's Diary grabs very exact Lat/Long coordinates for each species sighting (I'm using a Bluetooth GPS linked to my iPod). This is probably my favorite feature; after a birding trip, it's great to be able to instantly bring up a map of the area showing exactly where I've seen each bird! I also like the ability to easily switch Master Checklists for out-of-state trips, and the ability to customize my Checklists to include eBird "Spuhs" (i.e. "Empidonax sp.", etc.). The Birdwatcher's Diary interface allows for quick entry and works great. Because the program is so flexible and complex, it takes a bit more study to fully master than some of the other Apps out there. However, nothing else can match it's feature set, which makes the effort well worthwhile. Plus, the support from Stevens Creek is top notch - they've consistently improved the eBird upload interface (which is vital to me) and other features of the program. After nearly three years of daily use, Birdwatcher's Diary continues to be the most utilized App on my iPod. I can't image going birding without it! ### 5/5 — Great App for Data Collectors & Listers *2015-06-16* I have tried a number of birding apps (including the new eBird app) and this is by far the best. I love the flexibility that it allows. I have total control over my data. I can create my own locations and record unique lat/long down to 100 foot intervals and export it to multiple formats, including eBird. A few hiccups in eBird uploads when eBird makes changes, but a big thanks to the developers for quickly adapting to these changes! ### 5/5 — A great tool! *2015-01-01, version 7.0.1* I’ve been using BW Diary for a few years now and it’s steadily improved over that time. For field use it’s pretty well sorted now and allows fast, easy recording of sightings, with the bonus of integration with eBird. Because it’s pretty feature packed the learning curve is moderate but the online manual is pretty good and support from the developers is excellent. Recommended ### 5/5 — well-designed & intuitive tool *2014-12-18* Birdwatcher's Diary is a straightforward tool that can be used in the field or at the conclusion of a day in the field (if like me you use some other device to note species observed during the day). And this reviewer appreciates the fact that (unlike so many other apps) it can be used with devices that cannot be updated to the most recent OS: as of this writing it is apparently backward-comaptible to OS 5, and it works splendidly (and with full finctionality) on my iPod Touch 4G (OS 6). ### 5/5 — Biologist *2014-09-22, version 6.1.3* I have used the software for several years for professional and recreational activities and like the fact that I can record the lat/long location for each observation (with some limitations). Great for eBird submittals. The current version (6.1.3) seems to work fine on iPhone 6 (4.7 in) and iOS 8.0 as of Sept 21, 2014. ### 5/5 — Great app for serious birders, excellent support *2014-05-16, version 6.1.3* Very well designed for serious birders. Easy to use in the field, uses iPhone GPS to automatdocument location --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*