Welcome to free, high-quality software for birders.

BirdTalk and BirdView are under active development. If something doesn't work, let me know and it will likely be fixed within a day or two.

BirdTalk

BirdTalk is a free iPhone app for recording eBird checklists by speaking the bird names instead of tapping them into the eBird app.

BirdView

BirdView is a free web app (click here to jump right in) for viewing and analyzing all eBird data, worldwide, as well as the Breeding Bird Study (BBS) database for Santa Barbara California. It is easy and fun to use, and useful to both everyday birders and eBird reviewers.

Start here with the orientation guide.

Here's a video presenting the fun parts of BirdTalk and BirdView to the San Diego Field Ornithologists on Sept 16, 2025.

Recent BirdView improvements:

2025-Nov:
- Draw circles and polygons visually as a way to select areas using the Geoshape search field.
- The AI is much smarter now so often makes better suggestions.

2025-Oct:
- Added the "nearby" checkbox that makes Site name searches work better, by matching more naming variations.
- Updates now do whole states and countries rather than mere counties.
- Added distances by kilometer in addition to by miles, and can use 7k lat,lon for a 7 km radius circle.
- Added breakdown by Checklists with County name.
- Improved Time search to understand a wider variety of formats including 0730 and @7-@10 and 5am.
- Added % notation at end of any search field, to produce a % column in the Breakdown pane. Tricky to use effectively: one good combo is % after a species name, along with breakdown by year, and count by Weeks covered. This shows changing occurrence rates of the species each year, adjusted for total amount of birding.
- Better messaging about Sensitive species not being searchable.
- Can now use Count by Species with Breakdown by Checklist to see the most diverse checklists, per area or worldwide.
- Can now use Count by Last seen to check which areas are up to date (and hence which are not).
- Can now use Count by First seen along with Breakdown by Species to see what Species was most recently added to your list.

2025-Sep:
- Added a speaker icon for bird vocalizations, along with the bird photo, on the duck icon at lower left.
- Added Lehman districts for Santa Barbara as ecoregions, and CBC circle locations for the world as Site names. Ask the AI.
- AI now knows to use non-English names for foreign states.
- Added Count by "Weeks covered", useful with Breakdown by Site name.
- The AI's instructions with the full details of every feature, only for those who are technical and insatiably curious, available here.
- Added "Week of each month" breakdown method that matches eBird's bar charts with the 4th week of the month including all extra days. - Added search for endemic species.

Recent BirdView improvements:
2025-Nov:	- Draw circles and polygons visually as a way to select areas using the Geoshape search field. - The AI is much smarter now so often makes better suggestions.
2025-Oct:	- Added the "nearby" checkbox that makes Site name searches work better, by matching more naming variations. - Updates now do whole states and countries rather than mere counties. - Added distances by kilometer in addition to by miles, and can use 7k lat,lon for a 7 km radius circle. - Added breakdown by Checklists with County name. - Improved Time search to understand a wider variety of formats including 0730 and @7-@10 and 5am. - Added % notation at end of any search field, to produce a % column in the Breakdown pane. Tricky to use effectively: one good combo is % after a species name, along with breakdown by year, and count by Weeks covered. This shows changing occurrence rates of the species each year, adjusted for total amount of birding. - Better messaging about Sensitive species not being searchable. - Can now use Count by Species with Breakdown by Checklist to see the most diverse checklists, per area or worldwide. - Can now use Count by Last seen to check which areas are up to date (and hence which are not). - Can now use Count by First seen along with Breakdown by Species to see what Species was most recently added to your list.
2025-Sep:	- Added a speaker icon for bird vocalizations, along with the bird photo, on the duck icon at lower left. - Added Lehman districts for Santa Barbara as ecoregions, and CBC circle locations for the world as Site names. Ask the AI. - AI now knows to use non-English names for foreign states. - Added Count by "Weeks covered", useful with Breakdown by Site name. - The AI's instructions with the full details of every feature, only for those who are technical and insatiably curious, available here. - Added "Week of each month" breakdown method that matches eBird's bar charts with the 4th week of the month including all extra days. - Added search for endemic species.