Audubon Bird Guide

• Free

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

4.3 4510 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5Love it!

   I love this app, and use it very frequently. After 60+ years of living in New Jersey, we moved to coastal North Carolina last year. While we're not serious birdwatchers, we took for granted the ability to identify birds we'd see in our area, and recognize unseen ones by their calls and songs. But in our new location we found a wide variety of birds and calls that we were completely unfamiliar with. This app has been extremely helpful to us in getting to know our new environment. I've paid good money for apps that don't work nearly as well; it's stable, easy to navigate and comprehensive. A little bonus: this past April I read in the local newspaper that Painted Buntings should be expected to return to the area soon, and that folks within a mile or so of the coast might be lucky enough to spot one. Never having seen a painted bunting before, I launched my Audubon Birds app to see what they look like -- gorgeous! So bright that they look like something a child designed using only primary-colored Crayons: red, blue, green, yellow. Then I used the 'Voice' tab to play their song a few times, so we'd know what to listen for. Turned out to be a beautiful, distinctive marble. And just a few minutes later I heard the same exact song through the screen of my open door. Looked out and there it was -- a male painted bunting, singing his heart out in a scrub oak right off the deck. I'll never know if that was coincidence, or if he had actually responded to hearing the song. In any case, we put out a millet feeder the next day and played host to quite a few buntings all summer long!

   Lcran · 31 Jul 2026

2. 5/5Audubon vs Merlin

   So I originally used Merlin and didn’t really know this app existed. However, I have an older phone and was not able to update to IOS 16, so was not able to use Merlin anymore as it requires 16 or above. I found this app which is amazing and is totally free! Also, the Bird ID option is awesome!!! On merlin it’s just a few questions that doesn’t narrow it down much. Just size, color, habitait, and activity. Audubon though has options for those AS WELL AS wing shape, tail shape, and best of all type. It was so annoying with Merlin when I was trying to ID a songbird and the options were raptors. On Audubon those won’t even show up! Audubon also has in my opinion much more information about the individual birds and a better designed app. There are a few things I like about Merlin better though. Merlin obviously connected right to my EBird account which was very useful. It also had bird packs for all over the world, while Audubon only has the US and Canada. Audubon also doesn’t have a sound or photo id, which is annoying. If the developers added this the app would definitely be much better then Merlin. I suggest, if you can, to download both Merlin and Audubon. Merlin for the photo and sound id and EBird, Audubon for everything else. Thank you for reading my review! Good luck birding! 😁🪶

   Olivia 🪶🇮🇱🇺🇦 · 31 Jul 2026

3. 5/5Amazing app

   UPDATE: I love the app, but both my wife and I *hate* the new interface! 😡 Whatever Audubon paid to have this app redesigned, they lost big-time. The new interface REQUIRES you to create an account, and it's almost impossible to easily find what you're looking for. Dropping my earlier 5-star rating to a generous 2 stars. This reeks. My wife and I have never been "bird watchers", but since being able to enjoy our morning coffee outside every morning, we've taken to really enjoying the busy company of our feathered friends. I downloaded this app to help identify the calls, and WOW! this app is terrific. It helps identify the multitude of calls, shapes, colors, regions, etc, and has really opened up our appreciation and knowledge. To cap it off: We were trying to confirm a Carolina Wren on our patio this morning; I opened the app and started playing the different calls of the Carolina Wren, and the next thing we knew, this little guy had braved hopping right up next to where we were sitting, trying to locate where the calls were coming from! I silenced my phone momentarily, and he flew a few feet away, but as soon as I started the calls back up, here he came again, trying to find his invisible friend! That alone is enough to merit a 5-star rating for this incredible app. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

   iShubes · 31 Jul 2026

4. 5/5Awesome!

   Amazing app! I have tried many different apps that categorizes, helps identifies and plays the birds different calls, but none of them compare to the Audubon app. There are many calls to help you identify birds, and all the pictures are great. I love birds, and love going out to find and take pictures of them, but sometimes I can’t manage to take a picture of or find a certain one, so I sit down and scroll through the hundreds of amazing birds I’d love to see one day. Now I do have 2 small problems with the app, though not necessarily problems. The first one is that some birds, when I try to play one of the calls they make, it will have the little square in the center appear, but right after that happens it goes back to how it originally looked, and it doesn’t even play the birds call! I have several times downloaded the packet to make everything offline for me, but some birds pictures don’t load, and some of there calls don’t play. Some of the birds that I’m having problem with on playing there calls is the tricolored heron, and one of the birds that pictures won’t load is the pacific wren. I don’t know if this is a bug, or if I just need to re download the packet or what. Whatever it is, the app is perfectly awesome and it’s just a minor problem. The last problem I have with this is that in the section where the bird calls are, there are no calls for that bird, and there’s no actual even description of there calls. But I’m not talking about birds that rarely ever make sounds like the snowy owl, (though it would be nice if there was a snowy owl call, but whatever) I’m talking about birds that I KNOW make calls. For example the red breasted sapsucker has no calls on its little information pocket, but I know it makes calls cause I’ve seen them make those calls. If you do not have any of those calls in your archive, that is okay because I have plenty of red breasted sapsucker calls on my phone, and any I could submit make me very happy. Other than that the app is great and I love how much work was put into it.

   writestuff49 · 31 Jul 2026

5. 5/5My Favorite App

   This app is easily my most used besides Safari. I love the explore feature; it’s given me so many tips on where to find great birding spots in my area (and great hiking too!) It also helps me know which birds to watch out for when traveling. After choosing a spot, I can study all of its recently seen birds and brush up on their calls in just one or two clicks. (Plus, there are often three or more different sound samples for variety, and most all common noises a species makes are included.) I keep my life list here and though I am relatively new to birding, I’ve added almost 60 new birds to my life list in the two years I’ve had this on my phone! It’s a great tool to improve birding skills, and I’ve definitely become a better birder since I downloaded this. More to love: 1) It’s free! 2) You can download a “field guide” of bird information to ID without Wifi - a lifesaver for No Service or data-saving birding 3) You can set alarms to tell you when certain birds are seen in an area. I live in the north, so I have one set for snowy owls! 4) If you see something unfamiliar, the app can help you narrow down your choices based on characteristics like state, time of year, size, color, shape, voice, flight pattern, tail shape, habitat, and wing shape. Very helpful. If you’re on the fence, please try this app. I can’t recommend it enough!

   Intermediate Birder · 31 Jul 2026

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