I had to go the DMV yesterday to replace a lost license. Fortunately, I downloaded a fun app for my iTouch to pass the wait called birdJam Twitch.

The game takes 660+ North American bird species photographs on the birdjam software and organizes them into 31 "flocks" for the East, West and all of North America. Flocks may be grouped by habitat such as forests and marshes, or families such as ducks, sparrows and warblers. You can even choose a difficult level from 1 to 10. Then you shake your iPod Touch or iPhone to start a game--if you are not down with the shaking of your iTouch in public like I am, you can simply touch the screen. During play, squares turn over randomly to gradually reveal a photo of a bird in their natural habitats. Select your answers using the buttons at the bottom of the screen.

I will say that in the All Species Game at a middle level, if there were 2 of the same species listed, it would usually be that species--but which of the two will it be kept it a challenge. I played with the sparrows flock and found that it can be a useful tool for noting subtle field marks and incredibly challenging at a low level of play. For some indoor birding, it was a lot of fun. And if I'm going to have a game on my iTouch, might as well be one that his subtly helping with id?

If you want to practice foreign bird names, you can choose to play in Spanish or English.