Audubon Bird Guide

• Free

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

4.3 4510 ratings · App Store

1. 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

2. 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

3. 1/5Don't update, NatureShare users!

   This latest update, late March 2018, removes all the features I loved about my NatureShare app - adding favorites, commenting, exploring the latest posts across the USA - gone without so much as a warning (the blurb says some of the community features have been suspended - read all). To cap it all, my photos have the wrong aspect ratio and cut off the head of the bird - something I can't edit. AND, if I want to edit the location, the app freezes. That, and the fact that I am only allowed to post one photo per sighting, makes this update a terrible mess. So Audubon developers, please hurry up and roll out an update with these fixes. You really shouldn't have offered this update until the app was good and ready. Shame on you! The good news is that I was able to download the Central Park Audubon app which still gives users full access to the NatureShare community and features. I applaud the effort to merge NatureShare with eBird but please enhance the Audubon app to incorporate the wonderful NatureShare community features we know and love. eBird is so dry and dull by comparison.

   Birder_Novice · 31 Jul 2026

4. 1/5So sad. Please bring back ability to see all nearby observations!!!

   This update is making bird life miserable for me. I have been using this app for about 10 years. I am an avid birder and rely heavily on it for the bird info where you can search by your location and pull up all the birds in your location that have been reported. Now you can only search by Hotspots and it only shows you daily lists, which are incredibly incomplete. I just went on vacation to Austin, Texas. I have never been there and tried to figure out what birds I had the potential of seeing. This new app version was completely useless. It kind of made me want to cry because I couldn’t figure out what birds were around me. Sooooo frustrating! I went to hotspots and the format for that was nearly useless. Why did you take this feature away after 10 years? Now it’s the beginning of migration season up here in New York and I have no way to know what’s coming in. The hotspots don’t help because they are so specific to that area, it won’t apply to where I live and bird. Please bring that feature back ASAP before it ruins the migration season we wait all year for.

   ellemc2 · 31 Jul 2026

5. 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

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