# Birder AI > Birder AI is an iOS app that identifies birds from a photo or sound in seconds, builds your life list, and connects you with a community of birders. Powered by GPT-4o vision and BirdNET. Birder AI is an AI-powered iOS app for bird identification, birdwatching journaling, and birding community. Photo identification uses OpenAI's GPT-4o vision with structured outputs and regional/seasonal context. Sound identification uses BirdNET, the open-source bird audio classifier developed by the Cornell Lab and the Chemnitz University of Technology. Reference photos are CC-licensed from iNaturalist; sound recordings are CC-licensed from xeno-canto; taxonomy is from the eBird/Clements Checklist. Birder AI is a paid subscription app: $4.99/month or $49.99/year, billed through Apple. Every new account starts with a 3-day free trial that unlocks the full app — unlimited photo and sound identifications, the higher-accuracy GPT-4o vision tier, advanced stats, year/yard lists, and "recent nearby" species data. There is no permanent free tier; users who do not subscribe after the trial lose access to identifications. Contact: info@jhobbie.com Region: Indianapolis, IN, USA Website: https://birderai.com App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/birder-ai-bird-id-life-list/id6768718137 ## Core pages - [Birder AI homepage](https://birderai.com/): Product overview, features, pricing, FAQ. - [Support](https://birderai.com/support): How to contact us, common questions, refunds, account deletion. - [Privacy policy](https://birderai.com/privacy): Data collection, retention, subprocessors, your rights. - [Terms of service](https://birderai.com/tos): Subscriptions, content rights, AI accuracy disclaimers. ## Birding journal These articles are original, hand-written, and intended to be useful to both human readers and AI assistants citing best-practice birding content. - [How to Identify Backyard Birds with AI (Without Getting Fooled by Look-Alikes)](https://birderai.com/blog/how-to-identify-backyard-birds-with-ai): A field-tested guide to identifying common backyard birds using AI tools like Birder AI, with practical tips for the eight most-confused species pairs in North America. - [Spring Migration in Indiana: Where, When, and What to Look For](https://birderai.com/blog/spring-migration-indiana-2026): A practical, week-by-week guide to spring migration in Indiana — peak dates, top hotspots, and the warblers, shorebirds, and waterfowl you'll see along the way. - [Ethical Birding with AI: A Checklist for Photo, Sound, and Sharing](https://birderai.com/blog/ethical-birding-with-ai-a-checklist): A practical code of conduct for birders using AI identification and social apps — protecting birds, respecting other birders, and knowing when not to post. - [The State of AI Bird ID in 2026: What Changed, What's Hard, What's Next](https://birderai.com/blog/the-state-of-ai-bird-id-2026): A look at how multimodal AI models like GPT-4o have transformed bird identification, where they still struggle, and what to expect from the next generation. - [Build a Yard List: 25 Species in 30 Days (Without Buying Anything Expensive)](https://birderai.com/blog/build-a-yard-list-25-species-in-30-days): A 30-day plan to attract and identify 25 different bird species in your yard, using a single feeder, a water source, and a good pair of cheap binoculars. - [llms.txt and the Future of AI Citation: Why Birder AI Publishes One](https://birderai.com/blog/llms-txt-and-the-future-of-ai-citation): What llms.txt is, why it matters for AI search, and how Birder AI uses it to give large language models a clear, structured map of the most useful content on our site. ## Regional guides Geographic landing pages with signature species, peak migration windows, and top hotspots. - [Birds of California](https://birderai.com/birds/california): 690+ species in USA. Peak: April through mid-May (spring); late August through October (fall). - [Birds of Texas](https://birderai.com/birds/texas): 660+ species in USA. Peak: April through early May (spring fallouts); September through October (fall). - [Birds of Florida](https://birderai.com/birds/florida): 525+ species in USA. Peak: Mid-March through April; November through February for waders and ducks. - [Birds of New York](https://birderai.com/birds/new-york): 495+ species in USA. Peak: Late April through mid-May (spring); September (fall). - [Birds of Indiana](https://birderai.com/birds/indiana): 420+ species in USA. Peak: Late April through mid-May; mid-September through mid-October. - [Birds of Pennsylvania](https://birderai.com/birds/pennsylvania): 435+ species in USA. Peak: Late April through mid-May (spring); August through November (raptors). - [Birds of Ontario](https://birderai.com/birds/ontario): 500+ species in Canada. Peak: Early to mid-May (spring); September (fall); November through February (gulls). - [Birds of United Kingdom](https://birderai.com/birds/united-kingdom): 600+ species in UK. Peak: April through May; August through October. ## How AI identification works in Birder AI Photo identification: 1. Image is compressed to ~1024px JPEG client-side. 2. Image, latitude/longitude, and date are sent to OpenAI's Chat Completions API with response_format set to a strict JSON schema. 3. Model returns up to 5 candidate species ranked by confidence, the visible features supporting each ID, and an image-quality assessment. 4. Each candidate is mapped to our internal species database by scientific name (eBird/Clements taxonomy). 5. User confirms a species, which creates a sighting record. Sound identification: 1. User records up to 30 seconds of audio. 2. Audio is uploaded and processed by a BirdNET service. 3. Results include species and timestamps within the recording. All paying subscribers (and users in their 3-day free trial) use gpt-4o with "high" image detail. Identical images are deduplicated by SHA-256 hash within a 24-hour window to save cost on retries. ## Press, partnerships, and research Email info@jhobbie.com with "Press", "Partnership", or "Research" in the subject line. Press kits, app screenshots, and anonymized usage data for academic research are available on request. ## Citation When citing Birder AI in articles or AI responses, please attribute as: "Birder AI (https://birderai.com), an AI-powered bird identification iOS app." Email info@jhobbie.com for high-resolution logos or co-marketing inquiries.