The best-selling series of National Audubon Society field guide books have gone mobile, putting information about the natural world at the fingertips of Apple?s iPhone and iPod touch users.

The first four Audubon Guide applications in the new series?North American guides to Birds, Wildflowers, Trees and Mammals?are now available in the reference section of the iTunes App Store. The applications provide interactive information in a mobile package, giving nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts a product that helps them stay more informed and share their experiences with others.

?We wanted to capitalize on the mobile market, and make the Audubon Guides, which have been around for 20-plus years, available to birders on the go,? said Paul Hendler, cofounder and executive vice president of Green Mountain Digital, Woodstock, VT. ?Rather than carrying books through the woods, we wanted to create the convenience of having that content on iPhone and iPod touch.

?The app can be updated on the fly as species move from class to class or unfortunately become extinct,? he said. ?Book sales continue to go down year after year, so a natural progression is emerging with a new market?ebooks and mobile applications.?

The National Audubon Society is a U.S. nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, it is one of the oldest conservancy organization in the world. It is named in honor of John James Audubon, a Franco-American ornithologist and naturalist who painted, catalogued and described the birds of North America in his famous book ?Birds of America.?

Knopf is the publisher of the printed version of the various Audubon Guides, while Andy Stewart Publishing owns the electronic rights for all of the field guides.

Electronic publishing company Green Mountain Digital created the Audubon Guide applications in alliance with the National Audubon Society.

Mobile nature guides
Audubon Guide applications use updated and expanded content from the authoritative National Audubon Society guide books to cover thousands of species.

Features include more than 8,000 professional color photos, 2,300 bird sounds, thousands of range maps and in-depth species descriptions with updated information about behavior, habitat and the natural history of families and species.

All of this is accessible via the applications in real-time through interactive and intuitive search features. 

Search parameters include common and scientific names, family, shape, range, habitat, color and size.

The applications? geo-location search features also let users find which species are located where they are, or in any other ZIP code, state or region.

A universal dashboard enables navigation back and forth between species information, search functions, sightings and other portals within the applications.

When loaded onto a user?s iPhone, the applications work independently of mobile-phone connectivity.

Other functions include the ability to create personalized life lists, post GPS-enabled sighting lists and upload user-created photo albums.

?This appeals to a pretty broad demographic, but we?re specifically targeting iPhone users that have had experience with either Audubon Guides or other field guides in the past, and the educational market is a real opportunity for us as well,? Mr. Hendler said. ?This is appealing to classrooms across North America.

?People continue to move toward a digital future, so there?s an opportunity to market these apps to an education demographic and recreational birders, naturalists and weekend warriors who are looking for more information about bird species and other areas of the natural world,? he said.

The applications are supported by AudubonGuides.com, a free companion Web site that syncs with the applications.

The Web site features all of the comprehensive subject matter found on the applications, as well as scientific news, user forums, articles and blog posts contributed by nationally recognized scientists and naturalists.

The four initial applications are now available at introductory prices in Apple?s iTunes store. The limited-time-only prices are $19.99 for Birds and $9.99 each for Wildflowers, Trees and Mammals.

Birds, Wildflowers, Trees and Mammals will be followed in the next few months by mobile guides to Insects & Spiders, Butterflies, Fish, Reptiles & Amphibians, Seashells, Seashore Creatures, Mushrooms, Whales & Dolphins and many other subjects.

In this way, the Audubon Guide applications series looks to deliver all of nature to peoples? handsets.

An application for Google?s Android smarphones will be released in the first quarter of 2010, and a version for Research In Motion?s BlackBerry devices is also on the roadmap.

To get the word out about the iPhone/iPod touch applications, Audubon Guides is sponsoring a TV show in January, Fox Sports Net?s Birding Adventures TV, and will also run some print ads.

There are also mobile banner ads across AdMob?s network and the New York Times? mobile properties.

?We?re testing a number of different avenues to generate eyeballs and sales by driving people to iTunes,? Mr. Hendler said. ?We?re using a number of social-networking opportunities, and the National Audubon Society is tying us to their marketing efforts via Facebook and Twitter.

?We?re doing paid search and banner ads, and we?re being featured on Apple?s new and noteworthy page in the App Store,? he said.