iBird Pro - What's New History
Interactive Field Guide to Birds
This page describes updates to the latest version of iBird Pro for iOS Version 13.0 as well as a history of previous updates.

Version 13.2 App Changes - August 15, 2023

We switched iBird Pro from a paid app to a subscription-based app in July of 2022.

This version of iBird 13 comes fully loaded with every plug-in, add on and 3 extra country databases which were available as in app purchaes iBird Pro 12.6. This includes species of North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Hawaii and the island nation of Palau.

Note1: The iBird Photo Sleuth is no longer available as an in app purchase.  

Note2: iBird Journal is no longer supported. We removed it from the app store in 2021 due to poor sales.  

New Content in 13.0

The following table shows what content was updated in this version of iBird Pro.

13 New illustrations
Bluethroat, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, Crested Caracara, Gray Hawk, Hawaiian Hawk, Hook-billed Kite, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Short-billed Gull (formerly Mew Gull), Short-tailed Hawk, Swamp Sparrow,
White-tailed Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk

12 Edited Illustrations
Chestnut-collared Longspur, Glossy Ibis, Kirtland's Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Laughing Gull, Louisiana Waterthrush, Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler, Northern Flicker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Rufous-capped Warbler, Sedge Wren, Thick-billed Longspur (formerly McCown's Longspur)

Version 12.6.2 App Changes

Fixed occassional crash in Photo Assignment.
Removed link to iBird Journal.
Removed Facebook SDK.

Version 12.6.2 New Splits

Japanese White-eye split into the Warbling White-eye (Zosterops japonicus) and Swinhoe’s White-eye (Zosterops simplex).

Ducky Thrush split into the Naumann’s Thrush (Turdus naumanni) and Dusky Thrush (Turdus eunomus).

Royal Tern split into the Royal Tern (Thalassius maximus) and West African Crested Tern (Thalasseus albididorsalis).

Version 12.6.2 New Illustrations

In our continuing effort to improve our illustrations, we updated drawings with improved composite illustrations for 13 species. You can see them all together by using Search->Illustration Update->12.4.

Aplomado Falcon, Broad-winged Hawk, Carolina Chickadee, Common Black Hawk, Grasshopper Sparrow, Gyrfalcon, Hermit Thrush, Lesser Goldfinch, Red-tailed Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Townsend's Warbler REVISED, Wood Duck, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.

Version 12.6.2 New Photographs

To help with identification we updated these species with additional new photographs.

Aplomado Falcon, Aztec Thrush, Black Swift, Chinese Egret (also known as Swinhoe's Egret), Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater, Common House-Martin, Dusky-headed Parakeet, Eared Quetzal, Green Parakeet, Guadalupe Murrelet, Key West Quail-Dove, Little Bunting, Mexican Duck, Nutting's Flycatcher, Pin-tailed Snipe, Scripp's Murrelet, Short-tailed Shearwater, Siberian Accentor, Western Reef-Heron, White-capped Albatross, White-throated Needletail, White-throated Swift.

Version 12.6.2 Miscellaneous Changes

The Budgerigar has been removed from the AOU ist, but we will leave it in the app for now so birders can become familiar with the change.

Northwestern Crow has been lumped in with American Crow.

Berylline Hummingbird (Amazilia beryllina changed to Saucerottia beryllina).

Bumblebee Hummingbird (Atthis heloisa changed to Selasphorus heloisa).

Violet-crowned Hummingbird (Amazilia violiceps changec to Leucolia violiceps).

White-eared Hummingbird (Hylocharis leucotis changed to Basilinna leucotis).

Xantus’s Hummingbird (Hylocharis xantusii changed to Basilinna xantusii).

Previous iBird Version Changes History

Version 12.6 App Fixes
Fixed issue with Photo Sleuth failing to install.
Fixed iPad view and color issues.
Fixed BAM saving feature.
Fixed slideshow issue.
Fixed accidental removal of downloaded country Databases, MyPhotos, Notes, or Favorites
Fixed registration issues on the iPad.

Version 12.5
iBird Now follows 2019-2020 American Ornithological Union (AOU) Supplement
Version 12.5 of iBird Pro updates the North America database to follow the 2019-2020 American Ornithological Union (AOU) Supplement. It also includes many new, hand-drawn bird illustrations, improves compatibility with iOS 13's dark mode and fixes a few bugs (1). The content from the AOU update includes significant changes to common and scientific names, shifts in families, splits of existing bird species and occasionally lumps where previously separate birds are combined. We've also added dozens of new photos..

Besides these important content changes, the new version of iBird Pro continues to offer the revolutionary iBird Photo Sleuth. Photo Sleuth is a small in-app purchase completely integrated into iBird and uses a neural network to identify any North American bird species from a photo of any bird you submit via your gallery or camera, even if that photo is of poor quality! Note there is also a stand-alone version of Photo Sleuth that you can find in the app store by just searching on its name.

For exact details, go to the Search menu and find the Splits History attribute, so you can see what species have been split or lumped in past years.

AOU Changes Every year we update the iBird North America database to be aligned with the latest American Ornithological Union (AOU) Supplement. We don't include every change that the American Birding Association suggests. We may also add species that our customers request. To see what species illustrations changed in this version go to Search > Illustration Update >12.2.

Introduced In this AOU version, we added these introduced species to the North America database: Egyptian Goose, Swan Goose, and the Purple Swamphen. They were added because they are so prevalent in parks across the country.

New Splits The White-winged Scoter has been split into Stejneger's, Velvet (U.K. database) and the White-winged Scoter.

The Gray-faced Petrel is a split from the Great-winged Petrel. In North America, it replaces the Great-winged Petrel since all confirmed records of this species in the ABA area are the Gray-faced Petrel.

The Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, Hwamei, and Red-billed Leiothrix have been removed from the Timaliidae family and moved into the Leiothrichidae family.

Miscellaneous Changes The Budgerigar has been removed from the list, but we will leave it in the app for now so birders can become familiar with the change.

The ground doves have had the hyphen removed from their name. This effects Common Ground Dove and the Ruddy Ground Dove.

The most noted name change is the Blue-throated Hummingbird being renamed the Blue-throated Mountain-gem.

A number of birds have had their species Latin name updated.

All the members of Oceanodroma genus have been moved to Hydrobates. This includes the Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Ashy Storm-Petrel, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel, Black Storm-Petrel, and Least Storm-Petrel.

In our continuing effort to improve our illustrations and photos in iBird Pro Version 12.04, we updated drawings with improved composite illustrations for 38 species. You can see them all together by using Search->Illustration Update->12.2. We also added 130 new photos, some to replace and upgrade the quality of images. Just a reminder that you can disable ads, reset popups, choose a default theme, autoplay sounds, and turn off any ads by accessing Settings from the navigation menu.

We’ve also added a new Share feature on the Species page that lets you send the species details to anyone using Mail, Messages, Facebook, etc.

You can learn all about these iBird Pro features in the Product Description or by visiting this link: http://ibird.com/whats-new/whats-new.html

Bugs (1) The maddening "X" won't delete a name you typed has been fixed. The new iBird Pro is compatible with all versions of iOS 13 and is likely to work fine with future iPhone and iPad models.

Previous Changes to iBird Pro Version 12.0
This section is for those who may have missed the featuers of iBird 12.0. Besides compatibility with the iPhone XS, XS MAX and AR, iBird Pro version 12.0 has been updated for the 2018 AOU (American Ornithological Union) Supplement. There are two new species: the Cassia Crossbill and the Sinaloa Wren. The Thayer’s Gull has been lumped in as a subspecies of the Iceland Gull. Plus, there are over 100 small changes, some of which are listed below. We’ve also added a new Splits History search attribute, so you can see what species have been split or lumped in past years.

American Ornithological Union Changes
The major AOU change is the split of the White-collared Seedeater into the Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater that is endemic to the Pacific slope and interior of Mexico, as well as southern Baja California Sur. The Morelet’s Seedeater is now the only species of tanager that regularly breeds in the continental United States. We have included updated illustrations for both of these species. The Gray Jay has been renamed Canada Jay. Hill Myna has been removed from the AOU list due to declining populations of this bird in Florida, and it is no longer considered to be established in North America. However, for those customers not familiar with the AOU update, we have left this bird in iBird with an explanation and will remove it next year. There is a new family for the Wilson’s and White-faced Storm-Petrel. They are now in a family called Oceanitidae (southern storm-petrels) while the rest of the Storm-Petrels (northern storm-petrels) remain in the Hydrobatidae family.

There have also been several species name changes. Baird’s Sparrow changed from Ammodramus bairdii to Centronyx bairdii, Henslow’s Sparrow from Ammodramus henslowi to Centronyx henslowi, LeConte’s Sparrow from Ammodramus leconteii to Ammospiza leconteii, Seaside Saprrow from Ammodramus maritima to Ammospiza maritima, Nelson’s Sparrow from Ammodramus nelsoni to Ammospiza nelsoni, Saltmarsh Sparrow from Ammodramus caudacuta to Ammospiza caudacuta, Downy Woodpecker from Picoides pubescens to Dryobates pubescens, Nuttall’s Woodpecker from Picoides nuttallii to Dryobates nuttallii, Ladder-backed Woodpecker from Picoides scalaris to Dryobates scalaris), Red-cockaded Woodpecker from Picoides borealis to Dryobates borealis, Hairy Woodpecker from Picoides villosus to Dryobates villosus, White-headed Woodpecker from Picoides albolarvatus to Dryobates albolarvatus, Arizona Woodpecker from Picoides arizonae to Dryobates arizonae, Bluethroat from Luscinia svecica to Cyanecula svecica, Siberian Rubythroat from Luscinia calliope to Calliope calliop.

In our continuing effort to improve our illustrations and photos, in Version 12.0 we updated the following 49 species drawings with improved composite illustrations. These are so good you will want to frame them and hang them on your wall. You can type in the name of any of these into the search field at the top of the scrolling list of birds and iBird will take you to its species account. You can also see them all together by using Search->Illustration Update->12.0. Anna's Hummingbird, Barrow's Goldeneye, Black Phoebe, Black-legged Kittiwake, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Black-throated Sparrow, Blue-footed Booby, Brandt's Cormorant, Brewer's Sparrow, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Cackling Goose, Calliope Hummingbird, Colima Warbler, Corn Crake, Craveri's Murrelet, Curlew Sandpiper, Double-crested Cormorant, Five-striped Sparrow, Forster's Tern, Golden-cheeked Warbler, Golden-crowned Warbler, Green-breasted Mango, Harris's Sparrow, Horned Puffin, Lark Bunting, Least Auklet, Least Tern, Mountain Chickadee, Palm Warbler, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ring-billed Gull, Ring-necked Duck, Rivoli’s Hummingbird, Townsend's Solitaire, Tufted Duck, Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Wilson's Snipe, Wilson's Warbler, and Zenaida Dove.

In-App Purchase Features
The following IAPs are available to download in iBird Pro 12.0. They are all found on the Purchase page on the Navigation Menu in the upper left.

iBird Photo Sleuth
Our newest IAP, Photo Sleuth, turns your iPhone or iPad into a magical bird species identifier. Submit any photo of a bird and, using advanced Machine Learning, it will tell you the exact species name in just a few seconds.

Owls of Mexico
In this in-app purchase collection, our favorite 16 Owls of Mexico and Central America are presented in all the high-quality detail iBird is known for, including illustrations with field marks, range maps, songs and calls, photos, ID and behavior data and much more.

Time-of-Day Search
The new Time-of-Day search feature lets you filter birds by activity intervals during day or night (Cathemeral), dawn and dusk (Crepuscular), during the day (Diurnal) or during the night (Nocturnal). Time-of-Day Notes, which provide additional information about a species behavior, are found on each species from a new Time-of-Day menu. The Time-of-Day feature is particularly useful for birders who are interested in night birding.

Percevia Smart Search
Uses a patented algorithm to make searching much smarter, preventing you from selecting attributes for your search that won’t give good results.

Birds Around Me
Matches birds based on your geographic area using GPS.

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