New Galapagos Birdwatching App Takes Flight

Birdwatching in the Galapagos Islands just got a little easier and more fun thanks to a new free app. BirdsEye Galapagos will help visitors identify and learn about birds and allow them to contribute to science and conservation by helping scientists monitor and track bird populations. The app also provides users with interesting information about the archipelago’s bird species and what’s being done to protect them.

(continued below)The app is a collaboration between the Galapagos Landbird Conservation program, which is operated by the Charles Darwin Foundation CDF, and the Galapagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) with support from the Galapagos Conservancy and Birds in the Hand.

Birgit Fessl, an ornithologist at the Charles Darwin Foundation who oversaw the development of the app’s content said,  “This will be a key instrument for monitoring through citizen science, encouraging everyone to pay close attention to the small land birds, and to identify and report their observations with more confidence. Undoubtedly, it will become a very important tool for monitoring bird populations, the basis for developing conservation measures for native and endemic bird species in the Galapagos Islands.”

(continued below)In addition to photographs and descriptions of every Galapagos bird species, the app includes songs of hard-to-identify species, and GPS-derived information on where to find species and when the most recent sightings occurred.

BirdsEye Galapagos can be downloaded for free on iPhone and Android and can be used without internet connection. Currently, only the English version is available, but a Spanish version will be available soon.