What can Scythebill do?
Scythebill lets you record all your bird sightings, around the world, using the latest taxonomies. It can handle a lifetime of birding, and still give you reports instantaneously. You can share your sightings with eBird or iNaturalist, and plan your next trip, and so much more.
But unlike any other such applications, Scythebill is free. There's no cost to use. There's no "pro" version with all the good features. And there's definitely no treadmill of fees just to get taxonomy upgrades.
And Scythebill is cross-platform - your data goes with you when you move from Windows to MacOS, even to Linux, without any ugly and expensive emulation software in the way.
It's also open-source - I don't even own the code!
But unlike any other such applications, Scythebill is free. There's no cost to use. There's no "pro" version with all the good features. And there's definitely no treadmill of fees just to get taxonomy upgrades.
And Scythebill is cross-platform - your data goes with you when you move from Windows to MacOS, even to Linux, without any ugly and expensive emulation software in the way.
It's also open-source - I don't even own the code!
What doesn't Scythebill do?
Scythebill is not:
- A tool for field entry - there's no mobile version (and there are no plans to build one). You can, however, use mobile apps from eBird, BirdLasser, BirdTrack, iNaturalist, or Observado and import into Scythebill.
- A bird identification application.
What can Scythebill run on?
Scythebill runs on:
- Any recent version of Windows (64-bit only).
- Any recent version of MacOS (10.10 or later).
- Linux (64-bit only).
It's really free?
Yes. Absolutely free, forever.
OK, but surely I can pay you something if I want?
If you feel a need to say thanks, please consider making a donation to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which very graciously makes the eBird/Clements Checklist freely available, or other wonderful conservation organizations like the Rainforest Trust, Fauna & Flora International, or Birdlife International. I'd be honored. (And I have no connection to any of these organizations beyond giving them my own support.)
How do I know you won't get bored and stop?
I've been birding for more than 30 years. And I've been a professional software developer for almost as long! This isn't a casual hobby. It's been under active development since 2009, and Scythebill is the (only) place I store my own sightings of 5600 species. "Getting bored" isn't going to happen.
And should something grim happen to me, Scythebill makes it as easy to get your data out as any other birding software around. In a heartbeat, you can export all of your data in eBird or Scythebill CSV formats. And the data itself is in a simple XML text file - which means even without access to Scythebill, your data isn't unreadable gobbledygook. And Scythebill is open source software, so another developer can take up the mantle whenever they want!
And should something grim happen to me, Scythebill makes it as easy to get your data out as any other birding software around. In a heartbeat, you can export all of your data in eBird or Scythebill CSV formats. And the data itself is in a simple XML text file - which means even without access to Scythebill, your data isn't unreadable gobbledygook. And Scythebill is open source software, so another developer can take up the mantle whenever they want!
I'd rather just use a website to store my sightings.
Please do! But keep in mind that websites come and go. Bird listing websites have appeared on the scene, then flamed out of existence with nothing more than a handful of file dumps to show for your work. Scythebill means that your data stays with you for as long as you want.
But I'd like cloud backups of my data. Can I do that?
Scythebill stores all your data in a single .bsxm file, external to the program; just save that in the cloud (DropBox, Google Drive, or anything similar). And Scythebill can automatically save weekly or monthly backups for you to the cloud.
It's open-source? Can I have a look at the code?
Sure thing! All the Scythebill code is in a Git repository at Bitbucket. (If you don't know what those words mean, don't worry. You don't have to know anything about Git or Bitbucket to use Scythebill. This is only for those of you that want to add features or fix bugs.)
I've got 20, 30, 50 years of sightings. No way am I entering them all again!
That would be pretty terrible! So Scythebill lets you import your sightings from other software. You can import from eBird, from BirdTrack, from Avisys (popular Windows software), from BirdBase, from Birder's Diary, from Bird Brain, from HBW Alive, from observado.org, from BirdLasser, from Wildlife Recorder, iNaturalist, from the various Ornitho websites, or from Scythebill's own simple CSV format - it's just a few columns of data (or more if you want). It even lets you import from Flickr albums!
How can I import data from other programs like Swift?
As seen above, Scythebill lets you import from a number of existing applications. But it may not (yet) support yours.
Much of this software lets you export data to eBird. Take that eBird export, and import it to Scythebill.
If this isn't working for you, or is working poorly, I'd be very happy to take a look at any export files your software provides. I've typically been able to add native support for direct imports to Scythebill.
Much of this software lets you export data to eBird. Take that eBird export, and import it to Scythebill.
If this isn't working for you, or is working poorly, I'd be very happy to take a look at any export files your software provides. I've typically been able to add native support for direct imports to Scythebill.
But what's a Scythebill?
Scythebills are a marvelous group of 7 mostly South American woodcreepers, with very long, highly decurved bills. Fabulous birds. (The bird on this site and in the splash screen is a Red-billed Scythebill photo donated by Alan Smith. Muchas gracias, Alan).