Audubon Guides–A Field Guide to Birds, Mammals, Wildflowers, and Trees

Audubon Guides – A Field Guide to Birds, Mammals, Wildflowers, and Trees
From Green Mountain Digital

About the App

Identify birds, mammals, wildflowers, and trees with the first-ever, multi-subject nature field guide app. Audubon Nature, is your comprehensive mobile field guide to thousands of North American species.

All guides feature professional color photographs, in-depth descriptions of each species, fast and easy navigation, state-of-the-art search functions, real time availability, life lists, sightings and photo albums.

Audubon Birds – A Field Guide to the Birds of North America features over 750 species of North American Birds, from Chickadees to Condors and Eagles to Egrets.  This guide includes the most current and complete information available on identification, behavior, habitat, range, diet, nesting, mating, migration, endangered status and more.

Audubon Mammals – a Field Guide to the Mammals of North America is your essential guide to mammals in the US and Canada featuring in-depth information on 240 species, drawings of mammals’ tracks, high quality photos detailing every species, information on range, habitat, diet, and much more.

Audubon Trees – a Field Guide to the Trees of North America is your essential guide to trees in North America, featuring in-depth info on 906 trees in the US and Canada.  This guide provides invaluable species information, over 2000 beautiful photos, complete descriptions of leaves, fruit, habitat, range, and more.

Audubon Wildflowers – A Field Guide to the Wildflowers of North America is your essential guide to flowers in North-America, with in-depth info on 1835 flowers in the US and Canada.   Audubon Wildflowers provides species information, over 3000 photos, range information, complete flower, petal, and fruit descriptions, and much more.

My Thoughts

I am quite impressed with the Audubon apps so far.    This particular app contains four apps in one – so you can save a bit of money when you purchase it.     I am quite impressed with the quality of the app and the flexibility of using it.    Being the type of person who loves to identify the species I encounter in my outdoor activities, I was very curious to explore the apps and see if I could identify something I didn’t know before.

While exploring our campsite and walking some of their trails, I snapped a few pictures.   When we got back home I decided to try to identify the species we have encountered.     Having the search functionality helps quite a bit when you are trying to identify something you don’t quite know.    With it you can select the regions and from there select a few other identification things like color, shape, and so on.    Each app has it’s own advanced search functionality as variables will vary whether you have a mammal or a flower…  For example, the advanced search for the mammals has five criteria while the one for the trees have thirteen criteria.

Here’s the species I have identified for with the app.

BIRDS

Purple Finch

DESCRIPTION 5 1/2-6 1/2" (14-17 cm). Larger and stockier than House Finch, but smaller than Cassin's and darker than both. Dusky rose-red of male, more raspberry than purple, extends from upperparts to breast and flanks, brightest at crown and rump. Off-white below, mantle streaked with brown, wings and notched tail brown. Female has pronounced light stripe behind eye, dark stripe on jaw, and more heavily streaked breast than female House or Cassin's Finches. VOICE Rich musical warble. Call a distinctive tick in flight. HABITAT Mixed and coniferous woodlands; ornamental conifers in gardens. RANGE Breeds from British Columbia east to Newfoundland, southward in western mountains to California and from eastern Minnesota east to West Virginia. Winters south to U.S.-Mexico border. DISCUSSION Purple Finches are numerous and conspicuous during spring migration; pairs are territorial, the brightly colored male displaying in front of the female with his rich, spirited, warbling song. After the clutch is raised, they may be seen in large flocks visiting orchards, parks, and other woodlands. In winter they visit feeding stations in large numbers, showing a fondness for sunflower seeds. NESTING 4 or 5 blue-green eggs, spotted at the larger end with dark brown, in a well-made cup of grasses and twigs, often lined with hair, placed in a conifer.

FLOWERS

Wild Columbine – Aquilegia Canadensis DESCRIPTION A nodding, red and yellow flower with upward-spurred petals alternating with spreading, colored sepals and numerous yellow stamens hanging below petals. Leaves: 4-6" (10-15 cm) wide, long-stalked, compound; divided into 9-27 light green, 3-lobed leaflets.Height: 1-2' (30-60 cm). HABITAT Rocky, wooded, or open slopes. RANGE Saskatchewan east to Nova Scotia, south to Florida, west to Arkansas and Texas, and north to North Dakota. DISCUSSION This beautiful woodland wildflower has showy, drooping, bell-like flowers equipped with distinctly backward-pointing tubes, similar to the garden Columbines. These tubes, or spurs, contain nectar that attracts long-tongued insects especially adapted for reaching the sweet secretion. European Columbine (A. vulgaris), with blue, violet, pink, or white short-spurred flowers, was introduced from Europe and has now become well established in many parts of the East. FLOWER April-July.. 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) long; sepals 5, red; petals 5, each yellow, with a hollow, long, red spur; stamens forming a column. FRUIT Beaked, many-seeded pod, splitting open along inner side.

TREES

This one I am uncertain about what I have found.    At first I looked in the flowers app but I couldn’t find anything in the pink/purple colors…  So for fun I checked in the trees app.   Well I was caught by surprised…   Apparently this is a Purple-flowering Raspberry (Rudus odoratus).  An alternate name is a Thimbleberry!

DESCRIPTION This erect, shrubby, thornless plant has rose-lavender flowers in loose clusters; new branches have bristly hairs.Flowers: 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) wide; 5 rose-like petals; many stamens and pistils.Leaves: 4-10" (10-25 cm) wide, large, maple-like, 3-5 lobed, heart-shaped at base.Fruit: red, broad, shallow, becoming raspberry-like when mature.Height: 3-6' (1-1.8 m).Flowering: June-September. HABITAT Rocky woods, thickets. RANGE S. Ontario to Nova Scotia; south through New England to Georgia; west to Tennessee; north to Michigan. DISCUSSION Thimbleberry (R. parviflorus), with very similar white flowers and similar but smaller leaves, occurs from Alaska to Mexico and northeast to Ontario. Baked-apple Berry (R. chamaemorus), is a dwarf form only 12" (30 cm) tall, with a solitary white flower, an amber-colored berry, and leaves similar to the above, but smaller. It is found on mountaintops in New England and northward into Canada. All other species in the East have compound leaves and usually spiny stems.

MAMMALS

Okay I will admit I didn’t find any wild animals that I didn’t know what it was.  So for the mammal, I decided to check the animal who is part of my totem name when I was a girl guide – the eastern chipmunk!  We have quite a few of these running around (or should I say jumping around) at the campsite.   we even have one whose domain is on our site.   Every once in a while, I see him going in and out of his hole.    Too cute!

DESCRIPTION  Reddish brown above; belly white. 1 white stripe bordered by 2 black stripes on sides; stripes end at rump. 2 white stripes on back much thinner than side stripes. Dark center stripe down back; pale facial stripes above and below eyes. Tail brown on tip, edged with black. Prominent ears. L 8 1/2-11 3/4" (215-299 mm); T 3 1/8-4 3/8" (78-113 mm); HF 1 1/4-1 1/2" (32-38 mm); Wt 2 1/4-5 oz (66-139 g). SIMILAR SPECIES Least Chipmunk has 4 white stripes of equal width on back. SIGNS Burrow entrances 2"(50 mm) wide, without piles of dirt, often on a woody slope or bank. Occasional sprinklings of nutshells opened on one side. Bits of chaff on logs, stumps, and rocks. Tracks: In mud, hindprint 1 7/8"(48 mm) long, foreprint considerably smaller; straddle 1 3/4-3 1/2"(45-90 mm); stride 7-15"(180-380 mm), with hindprints closer together and printing ahead of foreprints. HABITAT Open deciduous woodlands, forest edges, brushy areas, bushes and stone walls in cemeteries and around houses. RANGE Southeastern Canada and North U.S. east from North Dakota and East Oklahoma, and south to Mississippi, North South Carolina, and Virginia. BREEDING Mates in early spring; 1 litter per year of 3-5 young born in May. First-year females not breeding in early spring may produce a litter late July-August. DISCUSSION The Eastern Chipmunk hibernates from late fall to early spring, waking to eat every two weeks or so. Individuals may occasionally appear on the surface in the snow, especially in mild weather. Essentially a ground species, this pert chipmunk, like the gray and fox squirrels, often feeds on acorns and hickory nuts. It does not hesitate to climb large oak trees when acorns are ripe, and will also scale Corylus bushes to harvest hazelnuts. The cutting sounds it makes as it eats nuts can be heard for some distance. In addition to nuts, its diet includes seeds and other types of vegetation, some invertebrates such as slugs and snails, and small vertebrates, probably found as carrion. This species is single-minded in its food gathering, making trips from tree to storage burrow almost continuously. It was estimated that over three days one chipmunk stored a bushel of chestnuts, hickory nuts, and corn kernels. Burrows, consisting of single tunnels or more complex systems, are up to 10 feet (3 m) long and less than 3 feet (1 m) deep. They may include enlarged cavities for nests (made of pieces of leaves) and food caches, which are often large enough to last into the following spring and summer. Eastern Chipmunks of both sexes vocalize prominently, using one of two chattering calls: a trilling chip-chip-chip repeated very rapidly (about 130 trills per minute) and a lower-pitched, slower chuck . . . chuck . . . chuck. The Long-tailed Weasel is the Eastern Chipmunk's major predator, but hawks, foxes, the Bobcat, and house cats also take their share.

In conclusion, the apps are easy to use and will give you plenty of details on the species you will encounter during your outdoor adventures. The apps are also a great addition for our homeschool.   I can make the kids search for a species we encounter whether at the camping, park, walk in trails around the house or on trips.     What I particularly like about these apps is the portability – you don’t have to worry to carry a bunch of books in your backpack and have extra weight on your back – like a few years ago. Now you just have to pack water, binocular and your camera and go explore the outdoors.   So what are you waiting for?  Get some Audubon apps on your iPhone, iPod or iPad and go explore your surroundings! 

Audubon Guides – A Field Guide to Birds, Mammals, Wildflowers, and Trees is available for purchase directly from iTunes.

Disclaimer: I received the app for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Audubon Butterflies

Audubon Butterflies — A Field Guide to  North American Butterflies

From Green Mountain Digital

About the app

Audubon Butterflies is your essential guide to the butterflies of North America. Now you can identify every species in your backyard, parks, gardens, or the woods or fields with

in-depth descriptions of over 600 butterflies found in North America updated by Rick Cech, the world’s foremost butterfly expert, over 3,000 beautiful color photographs detailing each species with extraordinary clarit, and advanced search options allow easy identification of butterflies

All guides feature professional color photographs, in-depth descriptions of each species, fast and easy navigation, state-of-the-art search functions, real time availability, lifelists, sightings and photo albums.  Each guide features photographs, lifelists, descriptions, sightings, a reference as well as a search to allow you to identify easily the butterfly you have spot. 

   

My Thoughts

My 5 years old son, Jérémy, has spotted a “bug” the other day.    I decided to try to identify it using one of the Audubon apps I received to review.   First, I needed to catch it.  Fortunately, we had one of those bugs viewers from Dollarama.   Once the bug in the bug viewer, I brought it inside the house so we can get a better view of it.   The wings were brown and you could see a metallic blue body as well as an orange head.   

I initially thought it was a bug.  My husband kept saying it was a moth.   So I opened up the bug app and proceed to do a search of a brown bug in the Eastern area.   Some bugs came out but nothing was identical of the one we found.  Could my husband be right?   I did the same search on the butterfly app and discovered that our “bug” was indeed a moth…  More specifically a Virginia Ctenuchid Moth (Ctenucha virginica)!

DESCRIPTION - Wingspan 1 3/8-2" (35-50 mm). Wings dark olive-brown, partly fringed with white. Body metallic blue-green. Head orange-yellow. Antennae feathery. Caterpillar, to 1" (25 mm), is yellowish tan and has many tufts of short white hair.

HABITAT - Wet meadows.

RANGE - Northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, south to North Carolina coast.

DISCUSSION - The southeastern states harbor the similar Brown Ctenuchid (C. brunnea), same size, which has orange marks resembling epaulets on its thorax, dark veins on somewhat paler olive-brown fore wings, and almost black hind wings. Additional species, mostly with yellow veins on the fore wings, occur in the Southwest.

LIFE CYCLE - Caterpillar feeds primarily on grasses.

Do not worry, once identified we released the Virginia Ctenuchid Moth back in our lawn.   

The app is easy to use and a great tool to help you identify the butterflies that you might encounter while walking in the woods or spending time outdoors with your family.   Personally, I appreciate the fact that it is very easy to carry around as well.  No bulky books in a backpack, the information is at the tips of your fingers if you use an iPhone, iPod or iPad.   I remember the days where I brought nature books with me when I would go in the woods.   I use to be a girl guide and loved to identify the trees and plants around me.    I am also an amateur ornithologist and love to identify the birds we see.    With the Audubon Butterflies app, I can now discover the marvelous world of butterflies.   

This app is also perfect for homeschoolers everywhere.  Our decision of homeschooling doesn’t stop at Sept-June.   It goes on year long… mind you during the summer time, we don’t use books as much but we explore nature, fish, learn to identify bugs, butterflies, birds, and so on.    With an app like the Audubon Butterflies (and the other apps from Audubon), an homeschooler can expand their knowledge beyond what they can even imagine.   All it takes is a little bit of patience and willingness to go outdoors to find the creatures.

Audubon Butterflies is available for the price of 9.99$ on iTunes.

Disclaimer: I received the app for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Audubon Mushrooms

Recently I decided to be bold enough and ask if I could reviews the Audubon apps.   Their answer was very quick and I was pleased to see that they agreed to provide various promo codes for the selection I had asked.   Essentially, I had asked for all the different apps that covers the North America.   Being an homeschooler, I am always on the lookup to see if I could find interesting apps that would help us to discover more about the various birds, plants, trees, bugs, and animals we could encounter while camping.   Being able to travel with our RV, we could be anywhere in Canada or the US at any given spring, summer or fall months.

The previous week-end before I requested these apps, we had gone to our campsite to open our RV after many months of colder weather.   Even though it wasn’t as warm as previous years, we enjoyed the sunshine and went for a walk.   Close to the place where our Zodiac type boat is located, we saw beautiful mushrooms growing on the trunk of a fallen tree.   I admit that I am always curious to learn more about nature.   I enjoyed my ecology and biology courses when I was in high school.   But mushrooms always were a mystery for me.

Thanks to the Audubon Mushrooms Guide app I am hoping to pierce the mystery surrounding the mushrooms and be able to identify the ones we often see while we are camping.

The mobile app highlights each species with stunning photography and extensive descriptions.  You will be able to identify mushrooms and fungi using the advanced search function, with fields including shape, cap shape, cap texture, color, gill stalk attachment, habitat, month, region, size, spore bearing surface, stalk cap attachment and stalk shape.

This comprehensive field guide includes a wealth of reference material on mushrooms including, classification, parts, order, families, how mushrooms reproduce and grow, poisoning and much more.

The first thing I realized was that I could browse by shape, order or name.   But not being knowledgeable in mushrooms, I decided to select the advanced search if you don’t know anything about mushrooms…  This is what I decided to do.  The search facility is well thoughts.  You can search by shape, habitats, regions, colors, sizes, months, cap shapes, cap textures, cap to stalk attachment, and stalk shapes.  For my particular mushroom below, I proceeded to select the color, the month which was May and the region which was Eastern Canada.  The result of this search gave me 33 different mushrooms.

I then proceeded to select the Shape of the mushroom.  From what I have checked in the All About Mushrooms section it looked like these mushrooms were in the polypores and other shelflike mushrooms family.   The All About Mushrooms section will provide accurate information on the classification of mushrooms, parts of a mushroom, how mushrooms reproduce and grow, the various orders, how to hunt/collect and identify mushrooms, cooking and eating mushrooms as well as mushrooms poisoning.  The new result of the search was giving me 7 results;  birch polypore, luminescent panellus, oyster mushroom, ruddy panus, thin-maze flat polypore, turkey-tail as well as the winter polypore.  

I think I have nailed it to two options.  It is either a thin-maze flat polypore or a winter polypore. I wish I had taken the time to check under and look at the stalk and spores.   My gut feeling to bending toward the thin-maze flat polypore though.    Now if you happen to know which type of mushroom this is, please feel free to comment and let me know.  

We have also seen the following mushrooms on a fallen birch tree.  I am still trying to figure out which type of mushrooms they are.  They were quite small compare to the previous mushrooms above.   But if you look closely, you can see moss on some of them.   This makes me think that it could be some mossy maze polypore. 

The app is definitively a great addition for our family as we love to explore our surroundings while we are camping.   I am not quite ready to try eating the wild mushrooms in the forest just yet but with more education on them, it would be interesting to try one of these days. 

If you are considering using this app to identify mushrooms that you could it, it is better not to use it for this.   There is a specific warning right at the beginning asking you not to do that.  The creators behind the app do not recommend eating a wild mushrooms unless you have an expert with you due to the severity of identification.  The app does specify which mushrooms are poisonous but this app is NOT meant for identifying mushrooms to eat.  Just because some mushrooms do not have the "poisonous" label does not mean that they are edible or that you have identified them correctly using the app.  I have been told NOT to use this app to identify mushrooms to eat.  Essentially this app is meant as a field guide to identify mushrooms for scientific and observations and NOT for consumption.  If you are interested in determining of a mushroom is good to eat or not there are other apps in the market for that.  Please note that many mushrooms look similar and could easily be misidentified.  The repercussions of ingesting misidentified mushrooms can be life threaten and or deadly.      Be wise.   Take a course to become an expert in identifying which mushrooms in the wild are good to eat. 

The Audubon Mushrooms Mobile Field Guide App is available at the app store for the price of 9.99$.

Disclaimer: I received the app for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.