Sibley App Second Edition UPDATED

UPDATE 1 : I received a notification from David Sibley himself! “"I can say right now to assure you that we are committed to updating and improving the app going forward.” So because of that I’m saying that you should purchase this app now, especially if you are reading it while it is at the discounted price of $9.99. Sibley assures the issues will be fixed soon!

UPDATE 2: I received an update to my iPhone app on November 22 and many of the problems pointed out in this review have been addressed. It appears emailing errors you find in the app can be addressed relatively quickly.

Poor David Sibley. He is an amazing artist who has gifted us with a revolutionary field guide. His publishers keep getting in the way of his outstanding art.

So…should you buy the Second Edition Sibley app? I honestly don’t know. UPDATED: YES!

Currently the app is in the iTunes store for $9.99. Word on the street is the price will go up in a month to either $19.99 to $29.99. Presumably they will fix these problems so getting it at a discount now is a good deal…though if they don’t…well…it’s a waste of money.

For years birders have been waiting for either an update or new Sibley app when his second edition came out in 2014. When that second edition Sibley came out there was a printing problem. Many of the birds were darker than they should be and the font was not great for older readers. This led to a recall and a second printing. Birders love the Sibley Guide and so have been anxiously awaiting the second edition in app form only to be told that it would be coming “soon.”

Finally, we all got updates in our Sibley apps on Friday directing us to an “update” which was a link to buy the 2nd edition. So I paid the $9.99 and downloaded it. I have a ritual for field guides where I look at my favorite bird pages first (don’t we all). One of those is the scarlet tanager. I especially wanted to check that because it was such a problem with that second edition first printing. I gasped and thought, “Oh no, they wouldn’t have been that foolish.”

The moment I knew My Digital Earth made a mistake. On the left the original Sibley app. On the right…the new seconded edition…

On the left the original Sibley app. On the right the new second edition Sibley…that is by no means the color “orange.”

Then I went to the red-shouldered hawk page and realized…the app company digitized the wrong printing…the one that had plates that were too dark. The one where the publisher issued a recall. How did this happen? Did no one pay attention to file names? Also as someone who is kind of anal about planning…how did Sibley, the editors, agents or even early reviewers not double check this?????

My Digital Earthy, I totally would have checked this first had you sent me a copy of the app to review.

But this isn’t the only problem. The scrolling is slow and clunky and has crashed while I used it. And then there are other issues…

I got Key West Qauil-dove in Cuba. I don’t thing anyone has gotten it in California.

Some of the maps are off. Especially birds that don’t have actual maps in the book. On the one hand that’s a nitpick…but if you’re using Sibley it’s because it’s a bird you can’t id and you need to nitpick.

Oh hey…that’s a Scott’s oriole on the Audubon oriole page…I’m guessing an intern who is not a birder got confused.

The Cassia crossbill is the same illustration as the red crossbill—because they look exactly alike. The only way to tell them apart is by call…which the Cassia doesn’t have in the app.

The new Sibley app has PROBLEMS. Some of these seem nit picky but here’s the deal…if you are using Sibley it’s because you want to be nit picky, you’re trying to figure out hard to id birds.

One thing I do like is the ability to search for species by banding code. I like that you can scroll by name or by image. I like that you can choose what month and how common birds are when you select what state you are in. And many of the smart search terms are put in a way that are easier for a new birder to understand. There’s a lot to like about this app.

Some of the “smart search” terms in the app.

You can now look at the list of birds with little pictures.

I’d like to assume that the app company is going to make updates. I’d like to think that advising you to purchase the app right now at the cheaper price and waiting until they make the necessary updates is better than waiting until everything is fixed and paying the higher price is better. But I just don’t know.

FYI most nature app companies send me their apps to review or at the very least send me press releases about what’s happening. I only knew about the forthcoming release of a new Sibley app because some birders were talking about seeing it on social media. When I purchased the app and I noticed the art problem I emailed My Digital Earth in the app. I didn’t get a response. However at least two birders (interestingly, both male) who pointed out the same thing I did posted screenshots or notes saying that the app developer confirmed they had indeed received the wrong printing to digitize and the app would be fixed in the near future—so presumably some edits are coming.

I don’t blame Sibley at all for this app. Clearly this is a publishing problem.

Can’t wait to talk about this app in my Tech Birding and Tech Nature classes.

Seventh Edition of the National Geographic Field Guide

On the one hand I’m sad this book is no longer a workable app. On the other hand it is a very fine book and the most recent edition has some great improvements.

I’ve joked before that new editions of field guides can be a bit of a scam since sometimes it’s mostly a taxonomy change or just a few rare bird illustration updates. But I grabbed an old second edition National Geographic from my office to do some comparisons. You can use this to see if you need to get an updated copy. I had a first edition and second edition when I was a kid. I will always have a fondness for these guides. One thing I really like is that the guide gives several options to try an locate a species quickly.

There’s a visual quick reference on both the inside and backside covers so if you know the shape of a bird but not the name you can try and find it faster.

You also have the option of just looking for birds by their names too.

Species-wise there are quite a few additions. I think the second edition has over 800 species. The seventh has 1023 and it’s organized by the American Ornithological Society’s taxonomy structure. About 3500 illustrations have been updated (new additions and diagnostic field marks are added. Maps have also been updated by Paul Lehman and even include some migratory routes. The back of the guide includes a list of extinct birds (Carolina parakeet) or wild card ABA Code 5 rarities that have shown up in the last five years (Amazon kingfisher). I find it interesting that Carolina Parakeet and Bachman’s warbler are in this list but the ivory-billed woodpecker still shares a page with the pileated woodpecker. Hope springs eternal.

Many of the exotics that now have established and sustainable populations in the US like munia and whydah and are considered countable by the ABA are included.

On the left we have the red-tailed hawk/Swainson’s hawk page of the second edition. On the right is the new and improved red-tailed hawk/rough-legged hawk page.

Every hummingbird illustration has been updated. On the top we have the second edition of Anna’s hummingbird and below the seventh edition of Anna’s hummingbird with up to the date field notes to help you separate them from other species of hummingbird.

It’s an excellent field guide to have in your collection. If you have fourth edition or older I would definitely consider upgrading to this copy. And with holidays around the corner, it’s a good gift idea.

Wallcreeper on a Castle

One of the best mornings I ever spent was because of a cheaper flight. Sometimes when flying home from Europe, at least $1000 can be saved by extended the trip an extra day (usually to fly on a Monday rather than a Sunday).

Since we had an extra day we did some birding and for most of us the goal was wallcreeper. This is a mytical European bird that I’ve been interested since the first time I cracked a field guide for this area. Think of an elegant silvery nuthatch with bright pink wings that creeps rocky walls gleaning insects. I’ve dipped on them in Austria and Israel but my friend Dale had a lead on a one overwintering on a castle in Bregenz near Lake Constance. What’s not to love about that sentence? So away we went to locate the bird with our thermoses full of coffee.

Our group had the nervous anticipation of flinching at any leaf movement as we combed the castle wall for the small bird. Eventually the bird was seen high up and worked its way down. We had lots of time with the bird and we were even able to send it to Facebook Live to grip our friends who were at work or on a flight home.

Wallcreeper!

Check out those pink wings!

It’s a strange thing getting such a unique bird on a castle, especially one I’d missed several times. It’s all part of the magic of birding in Europe. The best part was that this was just the start of our birding adventure as Chris Wood from eBird came up with a mad plan to be the top eBirders in Lichtenstein.

Some celebrate with lifer pie, I celebrated with lifer beer—specifically Budvar in honor of my Czech roots. Unlike Budweiser in the US, this one actually has flavor.

The Splendor of Birds

As part of Year of the Bird National Geographic released a book called The Splendor of Birds. It’s supposed to be a reflection of how we notice birds and how that has changed in the last 130 or so odd years. The book incorporates historic photos, illustrations and some amazing images from recent years. I had high hopes for this book, because coffee table books of birds sparked my imagination as a kid of what it would be possible to see one day.

But my overall feeling for it is…meh.

Albatross photo from 1922 vs 2007—what a difference from manhandling to a habitat shot.

It is interesting to see how far we have come in grabbing images of birds both in the form of illustration and photography. I realize that early on bird painting and photography was dominated by men because they had the time and equipment and quite frankly, were the ones allowed to do so, but that’s changed so much in the last two decades.

I had hoped the part of the book that focuses on the last 18 years would incorporate lots of female photographers but…sadly, no. Yes there are a few women that have photos in the book book, but the illustrators are mostly absent. The only female illustrator shown is the 1880s couple Jonathan and Elizabeth Gould co-credited on a bower bird illustration. Counting the 198 contributors in the back revealed that 18 were women (roughly 9%). Which is incredibly disappointing considering that the birding population in the US is over 50% female. But hey, they had some so I shouldn’t complain…

That’s not to say there aren’t stunning images in this book. There are some beauts and as a strictly “bird porn” type of book it’s nice.

A bird with broken tail tips and wing feather tips is a sign of stress in captivity. Also I have questions about the toucan. Bird banding typically takes place outside so you see the vegetation in the background. This bird has a white background. Was it put int he nets just for a photo op?

There are also many images of captive birds that are washed out in mid-flight. I’ve never been a fan of the method getting a bird frozen in mid flap. The motion is interesting, but the colors are completely faded out from the flash.

So the book is ok. If you’re a kid interested in birds, it might spark your interest to learn more about different species, but overall it’s underwhelming. I wouldn’t go out of my way to give this book as a gift to someone but if I found it at a use book store, I give it a consideration.