Recently we were asked if there was support for users who know their birds by their French names.

The main software has not been localised, user interface etc.  However we have included other languages along with the taxonomy data, where present.  For example, the AOU list contains both French and English names in addition to the scientific names.  These can be used from the software by selecting “Preferred Language” to French in Options->Localisation.  Then, if a checklist has French names available it will use them.  Other taxonomies have other languages available, though they're not very discoverable from the software, unless you already selected the right taxononmy.  Here's a list of the non-english languages supported by the different taxonomies:

American Ornithologists' Union: French
Brazilian Ornithological Records Committee: Portuguese
Sociedad Española de Ornitología: Spanish, Catalan

In addition to the languages available from the taxonomies, we also have a feature called “Synonym Lists”.  This allows the user to create synonyms for taxa already in the system.  Synonyms can be in any language, and either for full names, or for quick-codes, that are used to speed entry.  It would be great to see some non-english synonym lists on the forum: http://www.bluebirdtechnology.com/Forum/viewforum.php?f=19

Do you know someone who would use Bird Journal if only it was more localised?  How important do you think it is to have the user interface localised?

Justin

We would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Thank you for your support over the last year.  We will continue to develop innovative bird and wildlife recording software products over 2011. 

Enjoy the birds throughout the holiday season!

Best wishes,

Justin & Christine
Bluebird Technology

I hope you are enjoying the winter birds and are keeping nice and warm.  As we are approaching closer to the festive holidays, we would like to inform you of our last posting dates. 

The last post for UK and the Channel Islands is 21^st December and for Europe is 13^th December.  We apologise for international post as the last posting date has now past.  However, feel free to order Bird Journal as a download copy and receive this instantly by email 24/7.

We wish you all the best for the holiday period; have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas.

To make it easier to buy Bird Journal as a gift this Christmas we have improved the checkout page to include a ‘Gift it’ section.  Previously there was no option to licence the product in a different name, you may now licence Bird Journal in his/her name. The ‘Gift it?’ section looks like this:

 

  We wish you a stress free shop this Christmas

We are pleased to announce our new Twitter and Facebook pages.  As you know we are always open to suggestions and if you have any questions we look forward to hearing from you.  We would also love to hear about how you are getting on with Bird Journal and if you would like to write a short review you may do so on our Facebook page: write a short review on Facebook

As well as posting on our blog we will also be keeping our Twitter and Facebook pages up-to-date.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Bluebird_Tech
Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BluebirdTechnology

Thank you for your continuous support and we look forward to chatting with you soon.

We are pleased to announce the launch of our very own company forum!  This is now live on our website, and can be viewed by clicking on Forum on the menu.

The forum is a place where Bird Journal users can go to share checklists, wildlife checklists and synonym lists, to discuss new features or problems, or just to chat about birding.

You don't need to register to download lists created by other users.  And if you want to contribute, then registration is quick and easy.

So if you create a list in Bird Journal that you think will be of benefit to others, please do consider sharing it on our forum.  We look forward to building a very valuable resource for all Bird Journal users to enjoy.

We have just recieved our longest testimonial so far!  Thanks go to the author David Heeley for his comments.

Also Alan Cairns from Canada has updated his review of Bird Journal since his first post from Nov 09.

http://www.bluebirdtechnology.com/BirdJournalTestimonials.aspx

We would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and joyful New Year. 

Bird Journal can be ordered online throughout the holiday period.

Boxed versions will be received in time for Christmas, within the UK, if ordered before Monday 21st December.  International posting dates have already past, however we will still be posting and hopefully they will reach you shortly after Christmas.

Have a wonderful time birding during the holidays.