A quick BirdLasser guide: Prepping for Birding Big Day 2020
BirdLasser is an easy-to-use mobile application for you to log your bird sightings while in the field. It works like an electronic notebook – but it’s so much more.
- The app also logs the co-ordinates, time and lots of other information linked to your sighting.
- Your data is backed-up on the cloud, so your valuable sightings are saved forever!
- It maintains your life list for you!
- And your sightings can contribute to citizen science projects, such as the Southern African Bird Atlas Project or various causes, as the data is used by conservationists and researchers to conserve birds in South Africa.

You’ll be using BirdLasser to capture your sightings on Birding Big Day (on Saturday 28 November), organised by BirdLife South Africa.
During Birding Big Day, you have 24 hours to identify as many birds as you can within a 50km radius. If you log your sightings on BirdLasser, you will be able to see your data, and that of others on an online map. By participating, you’ll be joining hundreds of birders across South Africa to celebrate our wonderful bird diversity and birding as a hobby.
If you’re a regular BirdLasser user, then you know the steps to follow. But if you’re a beginner to this app before Birding Big Day, here are some easy tips to use BirdLasser. You can also watch this video which will show step-by-step how to setup your BirdLasser and how to log your sightings.

Your life list
BirdLasser will also automatically capture all your sightings in a life list, so that you can see over time how many species you’ve identified anywhere in the world.
To see your life list, tap on the menu icon (the 3 horizontal lines), or the menu button, and tap on Lifelist on the dropdown menu.
Join a cause
You can also join a cause, such as the Threatened Species project. Tap on the menu icon or the menu button, and then on Causes. Select Threatened Species, or other causes you’d like to join.

Or join a challenge:
It’s also possible to join a challenge, such as the Overberg 150km Challenge. You need to log onto your profile on the website to join a challenge (it’s not possible to join a challenge via the app on your phone, but you can see you challenges under the PLAY section if you tap on the menu icon). Go online (www.birdlasser.com), log into your profile, click on Challenges on the home page, and then join challenges such as the South African Birding Big Year or the Cape Town 150km Challenge.
For more information about Birding Big Day you can email the organizer, Ernst Retief at ernst.retief@birdlife.org.za.