Great apps for the outdoors -- identify birds, constellations

I have to admit, I had a mixed childhood. Looking up at the stars at night held a deep fascination. I could find the two dippers, point out the North Star, and make an educated guess as to what whizzed overhead, but when it got beyond that, well, I couldn't tell you Sagittarius from Saturn. By day, I enjoyed watching birds at work, pecking away at making a living, or just having a great time making like a feathered Placido Domingo. Ask me, "What kinda bird is that?" and if it was a Robin or a Crow, I was a shoe-in, but beyond that, expect a dumb look.

Ah, there's an app for all of that.

Frustrated bird watcher? Carrying big bird identification tomes into the wilderness is one thing, but since you've already got an Apple of some sort, or an Android, why not let them do the work? The Merlin Bird ID app walks you through five easy questions about your subject. How big was the bird? What color (and don't worry, it provides a color chart). Where was it feeding? Simple questions yield up a list of possible suspects, and you can match the picture to get the proper ID. From there Merlin provides sound files of the bird's song, and interesting data about its habits, etc.

The bird-brains at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology pack the app with a database of hundreds of birds, but make it easy by having you input your location around Canada or the U.S., and based on that location pare down the most-likelies for the area you're in making your observations.

The cost? Ah, once again, a great thing: Free for Apple or Android.

Now, if you're looking heavenward at night, here's another great app to make positive identification of -- not feathered -- but heavenly bodies. It's called "Star Chart."

Utilizing your device's GPS technology, Star Chart is like having a pocket-sized planetarium. Point the screen upward and the app reports back what you're gazing at. Not only does it identify constellations, but individual planets, all of this in real time, day or night.

While the universe is easily filled with "billions and billions" of stars, Star Chart narrows it down a wee bit: All visible stars in the northern and southern hemispheres are cataloged – a mere 120,000. But they do take on a different aspect of things, allowing you to "fly to and explore" all the planets in the solar system (along with their attendant moons) for a closer gander in 3D.

And those constellations? There are 88 of them visible to earth-stationed mankind. Star Chart outlines those constellations using artwork drawn by the 17th century astronomer, Johannes Hevelius. (Hevilus, in his time, also brewed Jopen beer, but that's a subject for a later time, another app.) And if your camping plans get extended, you can plot astronomical body positions out into the future – up to 10,000 years (or go backwards), but I suspect our e-devices may be outdated before that time. 

Star Chart is another of those wonders of the modern tech world, coming to you on Apple or Android, free of charge.