We've just released an update for the Clements taxonomy, bringing it right up-to-date!
You'll see a number badge on the Library button if you've updates to install.
Updates are automatic where possible, but there may be changes that you need to think about, for example when species are split or lumped. Head to Tools > Taxonomic Updates in the desktop app to see a list of issues and details of changes applied. You may wish to refer to our a guide on taxonomic updates.
We're aiming to issue future updates around the time they're released by Cornell, and have put processes in place to make this easier to achieve.
Let us know how you get on. Updates to the IOC taxonomy are next.
A few months back we got an email from the company that
stores all of the synchronized data in Bird Journal, telling us we were running
out of space. A good problem to have some might say! But a problem
that needs solving none the less.
Luckily, the company we use offers space upgrades that can
help. But on reflection, this would quickly become expensive and be
harder and harder to maintain. So we paused and had a think about how we
might do better. We considered learnings from running Bird Journal as a
service for the last few years.
The result is a very different approach to storing
synchronized data. It’s faster, highly scalable, easier to maintain,
cheaper to run and of course, secure. We’ve been running this in parallel
for a while now, ensuring behaviour is identical.
And it’s live for all account today!
Good for this change is no noticeable difference.
Which is sadly, not terribly exciting. But it is (we hope) at least
comforting to know that this change will allow Bird Journal to continue running
smoothly for a long time to come.
As ever, let us know if you have any feedback, concerns or issues. No app updates are required for this change to be in effect.
I just wanted to let you know that we’re today retiring support for Windows XP for Bird Journal version 4.
This decision is prompted by a security change in some of the services we use, combined with low usage of version 4 on Windows XP.
If you’re still actively using Bird Journal version 4 on Windows XP, please:
- Make sure all of your changes have been synced. You can verify this using Bird Journal on any other supported device. If you don’t have any other devices to check on, please get in touch.
- Uninstall Bird Journal 4 from your computer running Windows XP.
- Consider installing Bird Journal to a computer with a more up-to-date operating system.
Versions 1, 2 & 3 may still work on Windows XP as they do not use any of the impacted services. We are however not planning any future updates for these versions.
Sorry for any inconvenience and please get in touch with any concerns.

For a limited time we're offering a free six months of Bird Journal Premium each, when you introduce someone to Bird Journal. (Up to a maximum of 12 months.)
Sign in to your account to start sharing.
Image (c) William Warby
It has always been possible to use Bird Journal on an iPad, but only as an iPhone app. This meant over-sized text and graphics and also being harder to find in the App Store.
The recent Bird Journal iOS app update solves this. The same app is designed for both iPhone and iPad screens. We also took the opportunity to enable landscape orientations, increase the resolution of images to ensure crisp display on the iPhone 6/7 plus and fix a number of bugs.

Our initial effort was to try to reuse the same full V5 user interface found in our desktop software. While this was clearly possible, our experiments showed performance was not satisfactory. Startup time was increased notably, especially on older devices. There were also challenges preserving edit screen behaviour to ensure the fastest and most tailored experience for recording in the field.
We decided keeping and extending the existing mobile user interfaces was the best choice. The apps will be as fast as possible and fit with the design style of iOS/Android. Behind the scenes we'll be making changes to ensure we can add features more quickly, have less to maintain and bring more consistency between platforms.
Don't forget to visit our feedback site to let us know what mobile features you'd like to see next. And if you have a moment, please consider leaving a review on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. These really help others discover us.

Earlier this year we launched the version 5 desktop software and the response has been very positive. We've heard from many of you about how the new interface is smart and intuitive, and how it's nice to be able to finally run Bird Journal on the Mac. And we've also heard from many who want more from the Bird Journal free edition.
Today we're excited to share that we've added even more to the free edition. We've removed many feature restrictions from Bird Journal. So many that the mobile apps are now completely unrestricted! Starting today you'll be able to enjoy these previously premium features across all devices:
- Input worldwide bird records
- Input non-bird wildlife records
- Filtering (e.g. to see year/location lists or to find all entries where you've seen a particular species)
- Enhanced context and browsing (e.g. lists of recent photos & entries)
Additionally...
Premium is now even more affordable!
Prices for premium have been reduced in almost all regions in response to research we conducted. We hope this will make the best Bird Journal experience open to even more users.
Premium is now even more powerful!
Advanced analysis features remaining in premium have been extended. Updates available today include:
- Lifer & year first badges and summary on the entry page
- New customisable premium Firsts report
- Enhanced premium Species Progress graph (Formerly Intra Year Species Progress)
- New printable premium Checklist report, highlighting potential lifers & country firsts
Answers to likely questions about these changes can be found in the article "Now even more Free: FAQ".
Bird Journal runs on Mac, PC, Android & iOS and is available from birdjournal.com
Image copyright reggie35 Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
Taxonomy updates in Bird Journal are long overdue. The last three months have been spent preparing the first major updates and ensuring the experience is as smooth as possible. You may have noticed a few app updates recently to support this.
Going forward we intend to stay up-to-date and release updates frequently. As of today, updates are available for both:
- IOC 6.2 - April 2016
- BOU 45 (incl. recent additions) - July 2016
Updates are installed from the library. If you're using the version 5 desktop app, you'll see a notification badge telling you how many updates are ready to install:
Open the library, select the Updates tab and press Update All.
Updates are mostly automatic, but in some cases you will need to review and make changes. The user interface will guide you through this, and more guidance can be found in our supporting article
"Taxonomy updates, how-to".
Other taxonomies will follow with the Clements taxonomy next.
EDIT: If you don't see the updates in the library that you would expect, please make sure you've installed the latest versions of the Bird Journal apps.
Editing records in Bird Journal is achieved by editing a specific entry. Certain changes however will be very tedious made to individual entries.
The Replace Species feature was recently added to the version 5 desktop app and allows replacement of species and subspecies usage, across all entries or a subset. It can be accessed via the Tools menu button.

Likely uses of this feature are:
- Updating records after taxonomic updates
- Updating records to subspecies accuracy
- Switching records to another taxonomy
- Fixing mistakes
A desire to consolidate records to a single/few taxonomies is something we've seen a lot recently. If this is something you would like to do please vote for the suggestion "Allow bulk update between taxonomies" on our feedback site. A more specific feature may be helpful.
In early versions of Bird Journal we relied on software updates to also provide you with updates to "built-in" taxonomies and checklists. For taxonomies & checklists created by other users there was no mechanism to apply updates from the author.
The Bird Journal Library was first introduced in version 4. It does for taxonomies and checklists what, e.g., the App Store does for apps:
- Easy discovery of available items
- Install items so they're available to use without internet
- Submissions reviewed for accuracy and completeness (See our Library Publish Guidelines)
- Only install items relevant to you - the library can grow freely without slowing your experience
- No app updates needed to receive updates to library items
- User created items can be easily updated for everyone
Given the similarity to how apps are delivered, it's possible we may later allow updates to be automatically installed. For the time being though, we want to give you the control in when they're updated.
One thing that was missing is notifying when updates are available. This is now available in the version 5 desktop app (mobile apps to follow) and you'll start to see notification badges more frequently as we keep taxonomies & checklists up-to-date.


As with installing library items, updates are automatically synced to any other devices you are using.
Keep a look out for more updates appearing soon!