I was just wondering, what are your favorite nature-type/citizen scientist apps? Mine are iNaturalist (obviously) and Zooniverse. Zooniverse is an app where you can help scientists from around the world with their projects, for instance circling whales so scientists can learn more about them. I think I would like to get more nature-related apps, but I would like to know what are some good ones!
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Mine are iNaturalist, the Audubon Field Guide, eBird, and Merlin Bird ID.
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Okay cool!
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just iNaturalist, for a reason I don´t know, I never got into eBird :( and I tried so hard.
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Ebird, iNaturalist, and zooniverse
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I often use ObsMapp and ObsID. I dont use iNaturalist that often, probably because Obsmapp (and the photo id) work better for the Netherlands. I use iNaturalist to see more species from over the world and hope to learn about them by helping to Id them.
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iNaturalist, Merlin Bird ID and Seek is sometimes handy for plants.
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eBird
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eBird, iNat and Lifelines (a portuguese app to register roadkills), on that order.
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BirdNET is pretty good for bird call IDs
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iNaturalist is the only one I use ;)
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This is probably not what you’re looking for but I like some apps that are related to the natural world but not biology. There’s PeakVisor that uses AR and GPS to determine what mountains/hills you’re looking at by pointing your phone camera at them, I think it’s cool to know the names of the surrounding mountains when I’m on a hike, you can get one free scan a day or pay the subscription to use it unlimited version.
There’s also Sky View Lite, which allows you to use AR to identify constellations and celestial bodies, and where they will be in the sky at specific times throughout the day. There is also a full version to this app that gives you more options and more objects to track in the sky.
Also if you’re a National Park fanatic like me there are a few apps that allow you to get detailed maps of the parks you’re in or going to and they allow you to track the parks you’ve been to while giving some information about them. So far my favorite is Chimani.
Lastly there are a plethora of apps that can show you hikes or natural areas you can go to in your area, but those are pretty taste and location specific so I don’t have any recommendations for one
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It’s a bit tangential, but don’t forget software as well as apps. There’s a HUGE amount of publicly available data that you can use to plan your spring iNatting excursions while you’re sitting inside this winter if you’re willing to take the plunge into using QGIS. Parks, trails, forests, gamelands, historical sites, and the roads to take you to them:
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Thank you all for these cool suggestions!
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I use eBird for recording my bird lists. I will go out for hours recording what I see. One time one of our local parks tried using iNat for a birding event. It was unusable for this purpose. People record over 50 and even over 70 species in a day. That’s just species. That’s not individual birds. You have to make individual entries for every bird with iNat. That’s impossible for a long list of birds and especially for something like a flock of birds. The eBird app is perfect for birding on a walk or in a single area where you are recording a number of species. That is not a criticism of iNat. It is great for other things. They are both tools. It depends what you are going to do.
I don’t use the iNat app for dragonflies/damselflies and other arthropods I find along the way. I use a “real camera?”…“off-phone camera?” that doesn’t have WiFi capabilities. My smartphone doesn’t have a very good camera. So, using a “camera-only” device and uploading the images works better for me. (My how technology has changed since I was young!)
I use Google Maps to get a GPS fix for my iNat observations since I don’t use the iNat app.
I have the Warbler App for birding. Fantastic app! It is only about $12. I can ID most of the warblers. But, I occasionally need a reference when I only see part of a bird in the trees when there are leaves. This app has a 3D view of a bird. It has comparisons of similar species. It has underside and tail shots. It has spring and fall variations. I just can’t say enough about it.
I was using the Audubon app for birding. But, it just take too long to open. There is too much there. I switched to the Merlin app just to have a small field guide on my phone. I think I use it mostly to show nonbirders I come across in the parks what a bird looks like. It is great for that because it opens and runs very quickly. But, if you want an app for bird calls, the Audubon app is better. It has more variation for a single species.
I should also add that I have book marks on my phone which works better than an app sometimes. I use them mainly for bird calls. But, they come in handy from time to time to view a species.
Here is one for families of birds:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/browse/taxonomy
I use the warbler page on this list in the spring migration so I can quickly look up a bird call. It is faster than using an app:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/browse/taxonomy/Parulidae
I also get a map file of a park on my phone that I am hiking in when I am not familiar with the trails. Or, I print out a map before going there. I constantly run into people in parks who are lost. Another suggestion is to take a screenshot of a map at a kiosk near a parking lot to get a map. Google Maps is not good for this. It often doesn’t have any trails or it is out of date.
I also have the SimpleNote app. It is a simple notepad. I use it to copy/paste/share notes about something like a nest location that I want to find again. I can copy/paste GPS coordinates from Google Maps, add some notes and share it to one of my email accounts for later use. I also use this app when I want to make a comment/response/post to Facebook. I find that composing with this separate app allows me to think about what I want to say. I can move things around, edit, etc.
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I will on occasion use the Map of LIfe app
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Thank you to everyone for these great suggestions!
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