Current release: v1.50  ·  May 2026

Download Yearbirder

Free and open-source. Available as a one-click install on macOS,
or run from source on Windows and Linux.

Download for macOS

Signed & notarized  ·  macOS 13+

One file, drag-and-drop install

The macOS app is signed and notarized by Apple.

Installation steps

1

Download Yearbirder

Click the Download for macOS button above. Your browser will download Yearbirder_v1.50.dmg.

2

Open the disk image

Double-click the downloaded .dmg file. A window will appear showing the Yearbirder app and your Applications folder.

3

Drag to Applications

Drag the Yearbirder icon into the Applications folder. That's the installation complete.

4

Open Yearbirder

Launch Yearbirder from your Applications folder or from Launchpad. The first time you open it, macOS may ask you to confirm — click Open.

5

Open your eBird data

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.

Download for Windows

Windows 10 or 11  ·  64-bit

One-click installer

Download Yearbirder_Setup.exe and run it. Yearbirder installs to Program Files and adds a Start Menu entry.

Windows security prompts — You will see two security dialogs when installing. Both are normal for free, independent apps that are not commercially code-signed. Yearbirder is safe and open-source; its full source code is on GitHub.

1. SmartScreen — A blue screen saying "Windows protected your PC." Click More info, then Run anyway.

2. User Account Control — A prompt asking "Do you want to allow this app from an unknown publisher to make changes to your device?" Click Yes to allow the installer to place Yearbirder in Program Files.

Installation steps

1

Download the installer

Click Download for Windows above. Your browser will download Yearbirder_Setup.exe.

2

Run the installer

Double-click Yearbirder_Setup.exe. If Windows shows a SmartScreen warning, click More info and then Run anyway. Follow the installer prompts — the defaults are fine.

3

Launch Yearbirder

Open Yearbirder from the Start Menu. You can also optionally create a desktop shortcut during installation.

4

Open your eBird data

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.

Download Yearbirder

Requires Python 3.10+

Running from Python source

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.

Setup instructions

1

Confirm Python version

Open a terminal and run:

python3 --version

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).

2

Install pip if needed

Many distros package pip separately. If pip3 --version fails, install it:

sudo apt install python3-pip # Debian / Ubuntu sudo dnf install python3-pip # Fedora
3

Install required packages

pip3 install pyside6 folium matplotlib numpy natsort piexif
Note: PySide6 on Linux requires certain system libraries. If the app fails to start with an error about libxcb, install the Qt platform dependencies for your distro. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0
4

Download Yearbirder

Click the Download Yearbirder button above and unzip the downloaded file. Or, if you prefer to use git:

git clone https://github.com/trinkner/yearbirder.git
5

Run Yearbirder

cd yearbirder python3 yearbirder.py
6

Open your eBird data

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.

Python package requirements

These are installed in step 3 above. Listed here for reference.

PySide6Qt 6 GUI framework (LGPL)
foliumInteractive map rendering
matplotlibCharts and graphs
numpyNumerical data processing
natsortNatural-order sorting
piexifPhoto EXIF data reading

Questions or problems?

The Yearbirder project is hosted on GitHub, where you can report a bug or browse the source code. To report a bug, click here.