What has supplanted DVD-ROM guides?

Years (OK, maybe ten) ago, I bought version 8 of the Birdguides DVD-ROM guide to British Birds, and it's been an invaluable aid. Given changes in bird distribution, I thought I'd get a more recent version, but it seems to me that technology has moved on so much that the kind of product I'm looking for just isn't available any more. What has supplanted it? The DVD-ROM platform, combining videos, stills and text was ideal. I can't find, for example, an app for my Android phone that comes anywhere close. I'd appreciate any advice.

  • Hi Gareth,

    You can get Collins Birdguide as an app for an Android phone. It's pretty much the same as the book but in digital form with a few extra features such as bird calls. You can get it HERE. It's not free though and you have to pay extra for videos.

    Another one worth a look at is Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab. Although developed originally for the American market you can separately download databases for the UK and Europe. It's mainly intended as an aid to identification but does contain plenty of photos and info about bird species. You can get it HERE and it is free.

  • Hi Tony - that's invaluable advice, and I look forward enthusiastically to giving those apps a go. Many thanks! Gareth
  • Hi I still use the Birdguides DVD ROM V8 - Installed onto my PC so no need to keep using the DVD ROM - Yes technology has Moved one but I still find the useability of Birdguildes mush more user friendly and useful than using mobile apps Like Merlin. Merlin is good app but lacks the features that makes Birdguides DVD invaluable.
    I also have the Butterfly DVD that is great as well.

    One of the most useful features of the DVD Rom guides is the side by side comparison screens.
    I so wish they continued the format event if they made it an Online subscription app that could be used on PC/LAPTOP/Tablet or Phone - there are other possibilities I believe for expanding the range to include Moths, Dragon Flies, Bugs, Spiders and Beetles... I believe the producers of Collins Bird guide app only for Apple phones also do Dragonflies and Butterfly Apps and have no interest in porting them to Android which I have enquired about several times,

    The Merlin Bird App now includes ID from Sound, which is very good and helpful.
  • Thanks, Birderman (and also Bee-eater, whose post I received as an email) - I have all the videos from the CD-Rom, with their inimitable commentaries by Dave Gosney, on my Android phone, and I regularly return to them. The only reason why I would have liked an updated version is that bird populations have changed even since the package was produced in 2008. But the birds themselves don't change! - so Mr Gosney's videos will remain a valued feature of my phone and PC.