An app for birders

From now on, you can easily and instantly share your observations with other birders. Report the species you encounter by providing detailed information about the bird’s position and the circumstances of your observation. Doing so, you might allow other birders close to you to spot species they have never seen before! While you create your alarm, Bird Alarm assists you every step of the way: enter the name of the species or select it from our comprehensive list. Then choose among our different options of localization the one that suits you best. For example, you can pin your position on the map, use the GPS of your smartphone for an automatic localization, or enter manually the coordinates of your location. Then, you have the possibility to add certain information such as the number of birds, their sex, their age, their condition, and their position or the direction they are taking. If you wish, you can also insert a picture, an additional comment or a recording. Your alert is now ready to be sent! This information reaches the other users of Bird Alarm in the form of a notification. As a user, you can create an individual profile according to your personal preferences. This allows you to filter the incoming amount of notifications: you will only receive the alerts that have a particular interest to you. This is useful if you only wish to see alerts sent from a certain country or region, from a club, or from friends. You can also filter out the most common species. The possibilities are virtually endless! To help you share and receive interesting and trustworthy data wherever you are: that is our mission here at Bird Alarm!

Bird Alarm is developed by the Swedish company BA Mobility. Bird Alarm was created in 2006. It is the international extension of Bird Messaging Service (BMS), an app initially designed for the Swedish birding organization Club 300, who wished to develop a modern, internet-based tool that would improve the communication between their members and help them observe rare birds. BMS was such a success that we naturally decided to offer our services to other birding clubs and organizations in neighbouring countries. Consequently, about 3000 birders are now regular users of Bird Alarm in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Hungary. We also have partnerships with five major organizations in these countries. Encouraged by this further success, we now want to open Bird Alarm to birders from all over Europe. The app is available in many languages, and the website is available in English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and French. We also strive to constantly improve our service and make it compatible with the latest smartphone technologies. New versions of the Bird Alarm app are regularly deployed, with new functions added over time. The website has also been completely reconceived with a fresh look as well as a more intuitive user interface.

Ever since our initial partnership with Club 300, we have been focusing on collaborating with birding clubs and organizations. This is our speciality. Bird Alarm was invented to meet the needs of enlightened bird enthusiasts who also care about protecting the environment (see next page). These are our values, as well as those of our current partners. Defending them is important to us. Our close collaboration with the clubs also helps us understand the needs of our members. That is why we regularly improve Bird Alarm by following the club admins’ suggestions and requests. When you register on Bird Alarm, you need to choose a club and it is up to the local club admin to confirm your subscription. Confirmation can be manual or automatic. All new Bird Alarm users can enjoy our 30-day free-trial!

Trustworthy information It is essential to us that the information shared through our system is trustworthy and of actual interest to the users. The quality of the service we offer, and the satisfaction of our users depend primarily on that. Therefore, it is in order to guarantee the relevance of the shared data that we address people who have a certain knowledge about birds. In the end, it is the reason why we collaborate exclusively with birding organizations and their members. As a user, you have the possibility to be really transparent with other birders about your own sightings. All you have to do is indicate the trustworthiness level of your observation when you create your alert. Furthermore, it is always possible to edit or comment an old alert! Respect of the environment The second essential value we cherish and defend is the protection of biodiversity and the conservation of bird species. It is very important to us that the shared data is not used for the hunting, capture or harming of wild and/or vulnerable animals. Conversely, our aim is to promote and support an activity that is respectful of the rich variety of species as well as of their natural environment. This is another reason why we focus on collaborating with birding organizations, and in particular with those who explicitly defend this goal. Doing so, we ensure as much as we can that Bird Alarm will not be used for purposes that are incompatible with our own values. A global community The purpose of Bird Alarm is simple: to grant birders with a user-friendly tool, so they can collect and share data anywhere and with anyone. In other words, we are here to help create a network, a global community whose members can communicate and refer to a common system beyond the limit of their respective clubs and countries. If you try Bird Alarm, you will instantly be able to access all the information shared through the app. Wherever you are – at home or on a trip – stay connected!