BirdsEye

What BirdsEye does

BirdsEye (legally Birds in the Hand, LLC) operates a multi-app nature-finding platform anchored by its flagship BirdsEye Bird Finding Guide on iOS and Android. The platform ingests real-time citizen-science observation data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird database and the National Audubon Society's Great Backyard Bird Count, then delivers hyperlocal bird lists, ABA Rare Bird Alerts, driving directions to hotspots, and life/year-list synchronization. A companion Dragonfly ID app extends the model to OdonataCentral-backed dragonfly and damselfly data, with preorder-stage Butterflies and Bumble Bee apps signaling horizontal expansion beyond birds. Underlying technology is a web stack behind the mobile apps that integrates third-party databases, a crowdsourced photo library (birdseye.photo covering 5,000+ species), and an in-app content store reselling regional bird-sound packages from Birdsounds.nl. Infrastructure requires multiple servers to maintain in-field responsiveness for users querying sightings in real time.

BirdsEye monetizes through freemium mobile apps, annual regional or world memberships (sold via the company's own website to avoid the 30% Apple/Google store commission), and one-time regional bird-sound package purchases, with roughly 79% of sound-package revenue passed through to original content providers such as the Bird Sounds of Peru creator. Verified photo contributors receive a complimentary year of membership, effectively turning user-generated content into subscriber acquisition cost. The company pays royalties to Cornell Lab of Ornithology and VIREO for content use. End customers are individual hobbyist birders and naturalists, primarily in the ABA area but with worldwide reach via regional sound packages across four continents.

The business is operated by a small volunteer-driven team: the website explicitly states that "no one makes a full-time salary from the BirdsEye apps," that "the leaders of the project do it for fun, not for profit," and that "money brought in from selling BirdsEye has never been enough to cover our costs," with leaders contributing personal funds to keep it afloat. There is no disclosed headcount, no external funding rounds, no institutional shareholders, and no parent company. The company's strategic position rests on a strong data-partnership moat with Cornell Lab and Audubon, deep niche credibility, and an expanding multi-taxon product surface.

Name

BirdsEye

Legal name

Birds in the Hand, LLC

Website

https://birdseyebirding.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

BirdsEye (Birds in the Hand, LLC) operates iOS and Android nature-finding apps that surface real-time eBird and Audubon citizen-science sightings, sold via freemium downloads, annual regional/world memberships, and one-time bird-sound packages to individual hobbyist birders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Hillsboro

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Freemium app downloads: Free download of BirdsEye for iOS and Android; the free tier shows the 100 most common birds near the user and limits some premium features (3 rare-bird-alert checklists, 50-mile search radius, 5 favorite locations).
2. Regional and World Membership subscriptions: Paid subscriptions unlock every countable species in a region or worldwide, unlimited favorite locations, larger rare-bird search radius, full Rare Bird Alert, Select Months view, and offline content downloads. Memberships can be purchased via the website to avoid the 30% Apple/Google take.
3. Regional bird sound collection packages: One-time regional sound package purchases (e.g., Bird Sounds of Costa Rica, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Mexico, Northern Siberia, Sri Lanka, Australia, Peru, Colombia, Belgium and Holland), bundled with free eBird sightings/images/text for included species. BirdsEye pays ~79% of revenue to the original content providers for these packages.
4. Photo-contributor membership incentive: Users who contribute verified photos to birdseye.photo receive a complimentary year of BirdsEye membership — effectively converting community contributions into subscriber acquisition cost.
5. Content royalty payments (in/out): BirdsEye pays royalties to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, VIREO, and other third-party content providers for use of bird photos, sounds, and text.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

BirdsEye builds and sells mobile applications (iOS and Android) that help birders find, identify, and track birds in real time by integrating live observation data from eBird and the Great Backyard Bird Count. Its flagship BirdsEye Bird Finding Guide is offered as a freemium app with paid regional/world subscriptions and one-time regional bird-sound package purchases, supplemented by a Dragonfly ID app and a crowdsourced photo platform (birdseye.photo).

Product overview

BirdsEye (Birds in the Hand, LLC) operates a multi-app nature-finding platform anchored by its flagship BirdsEye Bird Finding Guide, available on iOS and Android. The platform is a single-tenant citizen-science stack: the core mobile apps pull real-time eBird and GBBC sightings to deliver hyperlocal bird lists and life/year-list sync, while a Bird Guide Store delivers regional content, regional memberships (e.g., Costa Rica, Hawaii and the South Pacific), and in-app sound packages integrated from Birdsounds.nl. Adjacent offerings extend the platform beyond birds: Dragonfly ID for iOS (OdonataCentral-backed), and announced/preorder apps for Butterflies and Bumble Bees. The companion birdseye.photo site functions as a crowdsourced image library feeding species photos back into the apps. Premium value is delivered through North America and regional memberships that unlock every countable species, expanded rarity features, and offline downloads.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BirdsEye Bird Finding Guide: Flagship iOS/Android app helping birders identify birds near them using real-time eBird data.
• Dragonfly ID
• birdseye.photo

Products and services

• BirdsEye Bird Finding Guide for iOS Worldwide bird-finding mobile app for iOS that surfaces real-time eBird sightings near the user, syncs life/year lists with eBird accounts, provides ABA Rare Bird Alerts, driving directions to hotspots and individual sightings, and unlocks regional content and sound packages via paid subscriptions.
• BirdsEye for Android Android counterpart to the flagship BirdsEye Bird Finding Guide, distributed via Google Play, providing real-time eBird-powered nearby bird lists, life-list sync, regional content, and sound packages for Android users.
• Dragonfly ID for iOS Standalone iOS app for identifying dragonflies and damselflies across North America, built on the OdonataCentral database, with Smart Search by color/size/habitat, life-list tracking, and OdonataCentral account sign-in.
• North America & Regional Memberships Annual subscription tier that unlocks every countable species in the user's region (or worldwide), expanded rare-bird-alert checklists, ABA-rarity reports, Notables search out to 250 miles, unlimited Favorite Locations, Select Months view, and offline content downloads.
• Regional Bird Sound Packages In-app and online store of regional bird-sound packages (covering Costa Rica, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Mexico, Northern Siberia, Sri Lanka, Australia, Peru, Colombia, Belgium, Holland, and more) integrated into the main BirdsEye apps via the Birdsounds.nl partnership, with offline download support for in-field playback.
• birdseye.photo Crowdsourced companion photo platform where verified user-submitted photos covering 5,000+ species are surfaced inside the BirdsEye apps; contributors receive a complimentary one-year BirdsEye membership.

Quantifiable outcome

• Photo library spanning over 5,000 species
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability5 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and supporting.

• Cornell Lab of OrnithologyflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPowers BirdsEye with real-time eBird observation data (the app is "powered by the real-time observations submitted to eBird"). BirdsEye pays royalties to the Cornell Lab and VIREO for content. Director John Fitzpatrick publicly endorsed the app as "a landmark in birding."
• National Audubon SocietycoreGTM or Marketing PartnerIntegrates Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) data so users can connect their GBBC account to BirdsEye. Audubon publishes editorial coverage recommending the app on audubon.org/gbbc-theres-app (Zach Slavin).
• Birdsounds.nlcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor"We have partnered with Birdsounds.nl, the premier online store selling bird sounds packages for many regions around the world." BirdsEye resells these regional bird-sound collections (e.g., Bird Sounds of Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil) inside the app; BirdsEye pays ~79% of revenue to the content provider for packages like Peru.
• OdonataCentralcoreTechnology or IntegrationCo-developed Dragonfly ID app with BirdsEye; powers bar charts and recent-sightings maps from its database; users can sign in with their OdonataCentral account to sync life lists.
• Xerces Society for Invertebrate ConservationsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a collaboration partner on the Dragonfly ID app, alongside OdonataCentral and the Dragonfly Society of the Americas.
• Dragonfly Society of the AmericassupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcknowledged for data contributions to the Dragonfly ID app.
• Migratory Dragonfly PartnershipsupportingTechnology or IntegrationAcknowledged as a data contributor to the Dragonfly ID app.
• PondWatchsupportingTechnology or IntegrationAcknowledged as a data contributor to the Dragonfly ID app.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Merlin Bird ID: Free bird-identification app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that uses the same eBird data ecosystem BirdsEye depends on. It is the most direct head-to-head competitor for casual and serious birders on mobile.
• Audubon Bird Guide: National Audubon Society's bird-identification app covering North American species with photos, sounds, and range maps. Targets the same birder hobbyist segment as BirdsEye and is published by one of BirdsEye's key marketing partners.
• iNaturalist: Citizen-science platform from the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic covering all wildlife (plants, insects, birds, mammals). Overlaps with BirdsEye's citizen-science + mobile-ID value proposition across its dragonfly, butterfly, and bee extensions.
• Sibley Birds: David Sibley's field-guide app for bird identification, offering illustrations, sounds, and range data. Competes for the same paying birder audience seeking a premium mobile companion to traditional field guides.
• Seek by iNaturalist: Image-recognition wildlife ID app from the iNaturalist team. Uses AI to identify plants and animals from photos, directly competing with BirdsEye's species-identification use case and expanding into the same dragonfly/butterfly/bee territory.

Emerging players

• ChirpOMatic: Bird-song identification app using audio recognition. Competes with BirdsEye's offline sound-package and species-identification capabilities on the vocalization dimension.
• BirdNET: Cornell Lab and Chemnitz University of Technology's machine-learning bird-sound identification project. Represents the AI-assisted ID frontier and overlaps with BirdsEye's sound-package and identification functionality.
• Picture Bird: AI-powered bird-identification app that identifies species from photos. Targets the same mobile bird-ID use case as BirdsEye with a freemium model and global species coverage.
• Song Sleuth: Song-identification app for birds that uses spectrogram-based audio analysis. Directly competes with BirdsEye's bird-sound playback and identification capabilities for hobbyist birders.

Others

• eBird: Cornell Lab's citizen-science bird-observation database that powers BirdsEye's core data layer. Not a direct competitor in app form, but the foundational data source and increasingly a substitute via Merlin Bird ID.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BirdsEyeBirding
• Facebookfacebook.com/BirdLog

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BirdsEye