Free and open-source. Available as a one-click install on macOS,
or run from source on Windows and Linux.
Signed & notarized · macOS 12+
The macOS app is signed and notarized by Apple. No Python installation or terminal commands required.
Click the Download for macOS button above. Your browser will download Yearbirder_v1.42.dmg.
Double-click the downloaded .dmg file. A window will appear showing the Yearbirder app and your Applications folder.
Drag the Yearbirder icon into the Applications folder. That's the installation complete.
Launch Yearbirder from your Applications folder or from Launchpad. The first time you open it, macOS may ask you to confirm — click Open.
Go to ebird.org/downloadMyData, click Request My Observations, and wait for the email with your download link. Once you have the .zip file, use File → Open in Yearbirder to load it.
Requires Python 3.10+
On Windows, Yearbirder runs from its Python source code. This takes about ten minutes to set up and only needs to be done once. The steps below are written for non-technical users — just follow them in order and you'll be up and running.
Go to python.org/downloads and download the latest Python installer for Windows. Run it.
Press the Windows key, type cmd, and press Enter. A black window will appear — this is the Command Prompt.
In the Command Prompt window, copy and paste the line below, then press Enter. This downloads the libraries Yearbirder needs. It may take a few minutes.
Click the Download Yearbirder button above. Your browser will download a zip file. Once it has finished, open the zip and move the yearbirder-1.42 folder to a convenient location, such as your Documents folder.
Back in Command Prompt, type cd followed by a space and the path to the folder you unzipped. For example:
Tip: you can drag the folder from File Explorer into the Command Prompt window to paste its path automatically.
Type the following and press Enter:
Yearbirder will open. In future, repeat steps 5 and 6 to launch the app.
Go to ebird.org/downloadMyData, click Request My Observations, and wait for the email with your download link. Once you have the .zip file, use File → Open in Yearbirder to load it.
These are installed in step 3 above. Listed here for reference.
Requires Python 3.10+
Yearbirder runs from Python source on Linux. Python 3.10 or later is required. Most modern Linux distributions include a suitable Python; check with python3 --version.
Open a terminal and run:
You need 3.10 or higher. If not, install it via your distribution's package manager (e.g. sudo apt install python3 on Debian/Ubuntu).
Many distros package pip separately. If pip3 --version fails, install it:
libxcb, install the Qt platform dependencies for your distro. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0
Click the Download Yearbirder button above and unzip the downloaded file. Or, if you prefer to use git:
Go to ebird.org/downloadMyData, click Request My Observations, and wait for the email with your download link. Once you have the .zip file, use File → Open in Yearbirder to load it.
These are installed in step 3 above. Listed here for reference.