Smart Bird ID

Identifying not accurate but it is nice that you can collect stickers of the birds you see but can not compete with identification accuracy with Merlin Cornell labs identification app

I’ve been enjoying using this app on my front porch. Does a great job of quickly identifying the bird I’m hearing and I love that there are recordings I can listen to to verify. TIL: it’s a blue jay that screams at everyone in my neighborhood.

To even begin using this app, I had to jump through all kinds of forced hoops, including the first one which was to give it a five star rating ((before I even used it))! I gave a three star rating because I had never used the app. So the rating system is false. There are many security and privacy tracking that this app wants to push through. Regardless, I did a free trial by subscribing for a month at $4.99 . when I was using the recording feature it guessed that I was listening to a northern flicker? (( clearly it was a cardinal)) the second attempt; it got it cardinal right, but was overlooking much louder Robin and the rooster that was crowing wasn’t even noticed! This was after the recording kept playing and playing trying to pick up these birds?? I’m talking several minutes and I kept getting a message too much background noise- try moving closer! I can’t obviously fly to the top of the tree and the only noise was the birds! it’s 5 o’clock in the morning! I’m not impressed. I stopped the monthly subscription -which (oddly)-immediately ended my free trial??! Which, by the way, if you get the free trial without paying there are so many pop-up ads that you have to watch it’s not worth your time. There was an endless ad on Social Security that I couldn’t end. The only way you’re able to use the free trial is to go to the store and visit there. * Not sure how long you have to linger there because I tried that approach ??- I guessed my only option was to watch irrelevant ads. I honestly wonder if this wasn’t designed just to track and steal personal data??

I love this app especially being able to have access to documenting my sitings and pictures for easy identification!

Free version has too many ads that are too long

Merlin is far superior in identifying the bird calls. I was already using that app first but it doesn’t have the option to make a profile to connect you with other bird watchers so I wanted to try this one too… I love the social opportunities this one provides but it’s simply not accurate so it’s useless to me. I have House Sparrows all over my yard every morning that I feed… Merlin is able to pick up those right away also Cardinals, Starlings, Mourning Doves and BlueJays, which I can literally see with my eyes. This app only shows it’s picking up House Wrens which I do not have. I paid for a years subscription for that and am disappointed. I’ll be sticking with Merlin.

I’m fairly new to being a “birder” but I feel comfortable saying I am one now and thanks to Smart Bird ID I’ve discovered a new hobby that I just love! ❤️ Initially I got this app to identify what birds were making the beautiful birdsong that I enjoyed so much every morning. But now I have learned so much from Smart Bird that I can identify most of the birds that visit our backyard daily by sight & sound. We have even taken to naming our favorite birds that visit every day. I love the way you can identify a bird with a recording or a photo. Their ID is very accurate and then you can click on that particular bird and learn everything about it, see more photos and listen to it’s bird calls & songs. There are also free articles to read on a great range of bird topics, courses & quizzes you can take and best of all you can post your own photos, recordings & videos to share with other bird lovers and see theirs. And a really fun part of participating on this app with other bird enthusiasts is the Smart Bird ornithologists award medals for the best photos & recordings and they do a weekly Top of the Week review of the top posts. It’s not done in a competitive spirit but rather encourages us all to share so we can learn more about birds in our area and beyond. We are fortunate to have an abundance of a wide variety of backyard birds but we also enjoy seeing bird posts from other States and countries. We would rarely get to see a bald Eagle or Red Tailed Hawk if it weren’t for Smart Bird. We have learned how to set up our bird feeders & birdbaths and the birds are now in our backyard from sunrise to sunset. ☺️ We love to feed them and observe their behavior and capture images of them. My husband affectionately calls me a “crazy bird lady” now but I’m proud and happy to help the birds and they give me much more than I give them because it brings me such peace & joy. I researched bird ID apps before I chose Smart Bird and I also got Merlin which is great too and very accurate also but I have to say Smart Bird is so much more fun and worth the small price to pay to be part of this wonderful birding family. They also have ornithologists available to assist you and answer questions. So I highly recommend Smart Bird ID and I hope to see you soon as our community continues to grow! Backyard Bird Lover ❤️

Ads are rediculous. Will be deleting shortly

To be able to quickly ID or pull up sounds is incredible. Many times I’ll play sounds and that will lure birds to my vicinity.

I have used this app for years and am just over it and frustrated! This is now the 3rd time I’ve heard a cool bird, tried to identify it, but had to watch a stupid ad first and the bird had stopped. This is ridiculous. I PAY, why do I have to subject myself to ads that make the product I pay for useless?