Spring is now upon us, and while you are no doubt enjoying the bird activity, we're busy putting the finishing touches to Bird Journal 2.0.

The import process in particular has come together very well.  We feel we've made it as easy as possible to import existing records from a variety of formats, into Bird Journal, without leaving anything behind.

But to get the best coverage of formats and quality of results, we need your help.  If you have records in another format, or can produce a sample, we would be most grateful if you could send us a copy.  (If you are an early customer you may recall a previous request for data.)

Particularly we would appreciate samples from any of the following softwares: AviSys, Birdbase, Birder's Diary, Birder's Tick List, eBird, Wildlife Recorder and Wings.  All records are welcomed however.

Excel (.XLS) or Comma Separated Value (.CSV) files are best.  Please attach them in an email to mail@bluebirdtechnology.com

We also need a few users to help us test version 2.  If you are keen to see what's new, and happy to help, then please let us know.

Thank you for your help.

Development for version 2 is progressing well.  Just a quick note that all orders made from now until release will receive a 20% discount off the upgrade price, making it easier for people to get started using Bird Journal now, without waiting for the release of version 2.

We are very excited to announce that Bird Journal version 2 will be launched exclusively at The Birdwatchers Spring Fair 2010 in Tamworth on the 15th and 16th of May.  We will officially launch this on our website on the following Monday.

The following overview gives you an insight into what new features can be found in Bird Journal version 2.

Overview

• Create and share your own checklists for other wildlife.

• Create and share your own checklists for bird species.

• Create and share name lists in other languages, and 'quick codes' for species.

• Checklist style entry.

• Import historical records from spreadsheets and other popular recording formats like eBird.com, Wildlife Recorder etc.

• Preinstalled with over 200 country level checklists of the world.

• Updated taxonomies.

• Restore Bird Journal database within the software.

We will be posting more information about version 2 and of our progress in the coming months.  In addition to the above, there will be a number of smaller features that have been requested by users.

Kindly email us if you have any suggestions and thoughts.

We have just recieved our longest testimonial so far!  Thanks go to the author David Heeley for his comments.

Also Alan Cairns from Canada has updated his review of Bird Journal since his first post from Nov 09.

http://www.bluebirdtechnology.com/BirdJournalTestimonials.aspx

We would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and joyful New Year. 

Bird Journal can be ordered online throughout the holiday period.

Boxed versions will be received in time for Christmas, within the UK, if ordered before Monday 21st December.  International posting dates have already past, however we will still be posting and hopefully they will reach you shortly after Christmas.

Have a wonderful time birding during the holidays.

Version 1.4 of Bird Journal has just been released.  We have taken the opportunity to fix a few bugs that occur occasionally when running the software.

What's changed:

• Fixed: Further crash when using mouse wheel on species entry box.
• Fixed: Rare crash in Locations dialog.
• Fixed: Some dialogs could be resized, where shouldn't have been allowed.
• Improved: Error report dialog now allows email address to be provided.

Download a fully functional trial version of our latest release, Bird Journal v1.4 now, by following this link: http://www.bluebirdtechnology.com/birdjournalDownloaded.aspx

 

eBird is an online community website used to share sightings to help with the conservation of birds, used in America.  It was launched in 2002 by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society.  

We have integrated eBird required properties into Bird Journal to make it easy to share data with eBird.  eBird properties are optional and can be enabled or disabled.  When enabled, eBird properties are displayed in the New/Edit Entry page where the values can be assigned directly to the entry.  Assigning eBird properties to your entries speeds up the process of exporting to eBird, as the required eBird fields are already filled out.

See how to assign eBird properties and export to eBird in our eBird tutorial guide.

We hope that the tutorial helps to demonstrate how easy it is to export entries from Bird Journal into eBird.  

If you have any questions, we are happy to help.

We have launched a series of tutorials to show how Bird Journal works. 

An overview of the software can be found on the Bird Journal Product page; here it shows how easy it is to enter new sightings, look through your photo gallery, filter your species lists and analyse your data. 

For more in depth tutorials refer to the Bird Journal Tutorial page; here demonstrates specific features of the software i.e. applying hierarchical locations, creating custom properties, and database backup.

If you have any problems playing the videos then let us know.

Hope you find the tutorials helpful, and as always we would love to hear about your thoughts.

Thanks!

We would like to share with you our latest work to help spread the word of Bird Journal.

Here is the web banner in the making, starting with our first prototype to the final version:

To see it live in action, visit www.fatbirder.com, shown under the menu on the left hand side, refresh a few times if you don't see it immediately.

Let us know what you think! :)

ps. if you would like to help us spread the word of Bird Journal using this banner then please email us.

The British Bird Fair 09 is only days away.

We'll be there on Saturday.  If you would like to catch up, then just send us an email.  We'd love the chance to meet you and to discuss any thoughts you may have about Bird Journal.