Bird Codes vs Big Year Birding ABA

Are you looking for a way to speed up your field notes so you can focus on actually looking at birds? Do you see birders using codes for birds on listservs and want to look them up? Do you want to enter your eBird checklists faster? Alpha codes are four letter abbreviations assigned to bird species as a quick way to refer to them. These codes are commonly used in field notes to quickly record sightings and other situations where writing down the entire species name is impractical. This app allows you to search and learn the alpha codes created using the Pyle and DeSante (2003) system which defines alpha codes for all 2078 species recorded in the AOU (American Ornithologists’ Union) area. You can quickly search by either the birds name or by the alpha code.

Big Year Birding gives birders—from beginners to serious listers—a fast, easy way to record, organize, explore, and share their bird sightings. Whether you’re doing a Big Year, participating in a Christmas Bird Count, traveling to a new birding destination, or simply keeping track of the birds in your backyard, Big Year Birding makes logging your sightings quick and easy. **A Vastly Improved Birding Experience** Big Year Birding features a completely updated and vastly improved user interface designed to make recording birds in the field faster and more intuitive than ever. Spot a bird? Tap Add Sighting and Big Year Birding can automatically record the date, time, and GPS location, including city, state, and country. Your sightings can be displayed on a map or browsed in sortable lists. Start typing a bird’s name and quickly select the species you’ve seen. Add a count, comments, identification by ear, sex, public or private location, and other useful details. **Built for eBird** Big Year Birding works seamlessly with eBird. Import species information from eBird and easily export your sightings in an eBird-compatible format, making it simple to move observations from Big Year Birding into your eBird account. You can also explore recent eBird sightings near your current location or another location you choose. Browse nearby reports by species, location, or date, see sightings plotted on a map, and get directions to where a bird was reported. **Designed for Birding in the Field** Big Year Birding continues to be useful even when you’re birding in remote areas without an internet or cellular connection. The app includes North American bird species recognized within the ABA region, along with numerous rare and accidental species and birds added with the expansion of the ABA Area to Hawaii. Each species can include a reference photo, and you can add your own photographs to your sightings. Links to resources such as Cornell and Wikipedia provide additional information when an internet connection is available. **Your Lists, Your Way** Big Year Birding is highly customizable. View and organize your sightings by date, location, or species. Filter your records to show particular dates or locations, or display unique species only. With just a few taps, you can review your: • Life List • Year List • State List • Previous years • Individual locations and trips • Complete sighting history You can also export sightings—or selected subsets of sightings—to another device running Big Year Birding, making it convenient to use an iPhone in the field and an iPad at home or to share lists with family and friends. Share your sightings through text, email, social media, or export them to eBird. Created by birders for birders, Big Year Birding puts your sightings, lists, maps, local bird information, and eBird tools together in one place—so you can spend less time managing your records and more time birding.