Project FeederWatch

Name: Project FeederWatch
Rating: 3 (65 reviews)
Author: Cornell University

Education

Free · Designed for iPad

65 Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Education
Developer

Cornell University
Language

EN
+ 1 More
Size

71
MB

Do you feed birds? You can report what you see for science. Project FeederWatch, a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada, monitors winter feeder-bird populations in North America. The FeederWatch Mobile App is a new way for Project FeederWatch members to contribute their bird counts. Sign in to: •Report birds that visit your count site in winter (US and Canada only) •Track your sighting statistics in real time •Access your archive of past counts from all years •Contribute to North America’s largest database on feeder birds •Find out what food and feeder types work best for the birds overwintering near you •Identify and learn about feeder birds FeederWatch Mobile automatically syncs with the web version for seamless multi-platform support. Your data become immediately available for scientific research, education, and conservation. Thank you for helping birds!

Ratings & Reviews

3.0

out of 5

65 Ratings

The update is not much of an improvement
04/28/2024

MMaschine
Disappointed in the update- it took YEARS for Cornell to update this app, unlike eBird or Merlin, which are updated now and then.And now it logs me out when I close the app, and when I log back in I have to swipe through the whole ‘welcome and here’s how to participate’ pages again- every single time. the larger layout is annoying, it just means less information fits on my screen. The extra reporting options are nice but overall they’ve made the app more annoying to use.
The update is not much of an improvement
04/28/2024

MMaschine

Disappointed in the update- it took YEARS for Cornell to update this app, unlike eBird or Merlin, which are updated now and then.And now it logs me out when I close the app, and when I log back in I have to swipe through the whole ‘welcome and here’s how to participate’ pages again- every single time. the larger layout is annoying, it just means less information fits on my screen. The extra reporting options are nice but overall they’ve made the app more annoying to use.
App freezes frequently on iPad Pro
02/25/2023

JR Burke VA
The last month or so I have been forced to close the app on numerous occasions and reload it in order to continue a count. I have been using this app for several seasons and generally it is an improvement over using paper forms and manually uploading data. But having to reload is getting old. Fortunately there has been no loss of data. One general issue from the beginning is there is no way to enter data offline. So if you are sitting in your yard out of range of your router, you must either keep a paper count or try to remember your sighting until you can get back online. E-Bird does not have this limitation but those counts cannot be used for FeederWatch. Looking forward to an update that will fix these issues.
App freezes frequently on iPad Pro
02/25/2023

JR Burke VA

The last month or so I have been forced to close the app on numerous occasions and reload it in order to continue a count. I have been using this app for several seasons and generally it is an improvement over using paper forms and manually uploading data. But having to reload is getting old. Fortunately there has been no loss of data. One general issue from the beginning is there is no way to enter data offline. So if you are sitting in your yard out of range of your router, you must either keep a paper count or try to remember your sighting until you can get back online. E-Bird does not have this limitation but those counts cannot be used for FeederWatch. Looking forward to an update that will fix these issues.
Can’t alter/fix incorrect bird count
11/10/2022

Birdless in PDX
This app is so frustrating I may quit Feeder Watch altogether, which is sad because I love birds. I’ve used this app for several hours and discovered it will not let me fix an incorrect bird ID. I can add sightings but not delete any of them after I hit one wrong button. It just won’t zero out that bird. It’s so discouraging that the app failed to work within minutes of me downloading it. So I’m going back to using the website on my phone, which also has drawbacks. Cornell’s computer engineering team was obviously not consulted by its ornithology department…or those schools are just very bad at what they are studying.
Can’t alter/fix incorrect bird count
11/10/2022

Birdless in PDX

This app is so frustrating I may quit Feeder Watch altogether, which is sad because I love birds. I’ve used this app for several hours and discovered it will not let me fix an incorrect bird ID. I can add sightings but not delete any of them after I hit one wrong button. It just won’t zero out that bird. It’s so discouraging that the app failed to work within minutes of me downloading it. So I’m going back to using the website on my phone, which also has drawbacks. Cornell’s computer engineering team was obviously not consulted by its ornithology department…or those schools are just very bad at what they are studying.
App needs a lot of work...
12/18/2023

Vduu you if to nk
Be prepared to refresh this app frequently and be patient, as it is very poorly implemented. It freezes often, the link to "Contact Us" doesn't work, and sometimes needs to be rebooted before a count can be submitted. It feels like a student project that was never completed before the student graduated and left it unfinished. I mean how many apps need to "connect to server" before it can launch.The good thing is that the counts aren't lost during all the refreshes and reboots so eventually the count can get submitted , assuming you get past your frustration with using this poorly implemented app.
App needs a lot of work...
12/18/2023

Vduu you if to nk

Be prepared to refresh this app frequently and be patient, as it is very poorly implemented. It freezes often, the link to "Contact Us" doesn't work, and sometimes needs to be rebooted before a count can be submitted. It feels like a student project that was never completed before the student graduated and left it unfinished. I mean how many apps need to "connect to server" before it can launch.The good thing is that the counts aren't lost during all the refreshes and reboots so eventually the count can get submitted , assuming you get past your frustration with using this poorly implemented app.

Previously, using the search box when counting would cause the app to stop saving data. We think you should be able to use the search box so we fixed this bug! We appreciate your patience and understanding. Thank you for FeederWatching!

Version 2.4.42

11/19/2025

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Location
- Contact Info
- Identifiers
- Diagnostics
- Other Data
Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Usage Data