Welcome to Maria's MutS and Stuff. It's Maria Malido, So my apologies this
interview you're about to hear. I had some technical difficulties and I cleaned it
up as best as I could, and I hope it still makes sense to
you. And I didn't want to lose it because I wanted to share.
Natalie and John White, they are co founders of the app Birda. It's
a birding app and I think you'll find it interesting and their mission is to
help people experience the natural world, so they'll fight to protect it and you
could learn more at birta dot org. Thanks for your patience listening it's Maria's
MutS and Stuff. What a great idea on iHeartRadio and with me I have
Natalie and John White, founders of Burda is an app. So what made
you come up with the idea? It actually starting in South Africa and that
got us onto the idea that that yeah, when people see they want to
share it. So amazing leopard and our first instinct with our friends and family
game reserved in South Africa, and yeah it become a generalist wildlife app and
then from to bird watching and that I mean decided to go for birds instead
of wildlife. So we realized that etin that we had on our we're going
to wild loidon and game reserves from time three times a year on the platform,
we're active all the time, gardens and you know, even and sort
of urban environs. So we realized that there were a very sort of top
of of a lot more active, but we made the decision a lot simpler
to but of one. It was a much more coll community to to sure,
Yeah, and I think a lot of it was a band of more
people to connect to us. Uh huh, I'm going to do that because
you don't need to be a bird watching you guys. Yeah, exactly.
I'm fascinated by birds, but i'm watcher so to speak many people who've taught
me things about the different birds and try to recognize travel that I like yourselves
and about birds, and you could probably idea internet get those people to stay
see and we found this list and the next time familiar with our lifeless is
obviously and yeah, so once you got lifeless to see that you don't have
on your list, you're you're like, I'm going to add this to my
list, and wow, and it's about kind of you know, fun into
it and kind of motivate people to get outside. You know, badges that
you can wear that you can take part in. And while everything that you
record conservations so at the same tightings, you're also kind of the environment conservation
search. So that's kind of all and then the community kind of whole thing.
Wow, Yeah, it's cool. You have birder dot org because I
thought this was so cool. People experience the natural, we're a fight to
protect it. So we found that bird watching it's almost like a gateway the
outdoors. You can you can anywhere in the world, even in these there
are birds. Get into on appreciating nature. And once you start going to
a little wild to you if something is threatened that place or when the developer
those people that are like, I don't want that to happen about wild space.
Sure, So that's the that's the goal. Yeah, and connect people
with the outdoors they care about it. Walk me through. Say, as
a beginner, I can go to like the apps of the birder app,
So I go to Central Park a bird, take a video of it,
walk me through. You have to take a video or photos. But in
what we've tried to build three step process. The first is feature which helps
you find places to human guards. Okay, and go to Central Park and
there's there'll be locations in Central Park that so we'll point those out for you.
Got a species list of what occurs, what you like you to see,
and we rank that likely to see to the least line. And then
that same feature has got a cool section to that takes there and then what
birds you've seen before you the birds that occur there, but people find to
that will help them see birds. Okay, so that's the first step.
Step where you left off is be the logging step. So that's a you
see, the thing that you want to do is identify a built in field
guard where you can reference images and compare that to scene. You then log
it. You can either log it like there's the ones that you see something
special, you just do a ones where you go into central part of stuff.
Basically everything that you see so as you walk, so as you're logging,
and it's basically recording those locations, post that as is, or if
you're a photographer and you've got some of you saw, then you can attach
those and then when you post it, you know the community gets to see
what if you've taken photos of standard is then the community you're going that we
call our sort of ar feature and an intelligence. It's actual intelligence intelligence.
I love it, know what the sure that's unidentified which will come in and
weigh in and say this photo I think it's x y Z like almost like
a Reddit up and down based on what people are suggested, and then you
can can accept when it has been suggested. We've had an amazing it was
left behind the naturally, yeah, mostly entire internet. That's that's a very
big compliment that you should use that compliment because usually the Internet were as good
as it is, it's not very good exactly. It's anywhere in the world
correct, anywhere in the world with the exact number. But we were instance
now Wow Andie and Joah we're focusing on launched in the UK and then based
in Southern Africa, so those are put but we've got people with one hundred
and seventy seven countries posting sightings. You can also sort of from the comfort
of yourself, other people are seeing colorful exotic birds. We've got quite a
lot of brown birds, so it's you know, sure, we've got a
feed called the nearby the way in the world and you can see like a
little feeding in that location. Cool, so you can sort of drop it
into and just see they're all the cool things people. I mean, that's
it's true. It's like it's the world to people. Yeah, absolutely,
especially to see something for another continent that they would never be able to.
I'm very intrigued by it. It's a cool app. There's a lot of
We've had a lot of different platforms and we don't see this competition like in
this eBird, which is massive and incredible work for conservation. They've got a
following. We see ourselves as aggregator of all these different ass in community and
fun and stuff like that. Then you can just empy records over from these
other platforms. Here in the UK, we've got bird Bird lesser cuttings over
that will populate your life, will get you started, and then when you
just do another important is about the community sure built like a new generation.
Yeah, you know, I think this kind of stereotype around bird something for
kind of older you know, plenty of time on their hut. You know.
With Burder, we've really kind of new generation of bird. What a
lot of younger people are really like feel the mental issues that are at stake,
and they really part of the community that kind of wants to share their
experiences. It's about sixty percent of our community of Putty four I think it
was. Oh, that's it's quite a significant proportion that are younger. For
all of thoughts that come from gen Z are very interested in the future edge
that's happening to the earth. We all need them these days, don't we
to kind of get off our scrolling get outdoors. By introducing these kind of
fun challenges, you can set goals, so I'd like to spend so much
time this month. All of these things are ways kind of being motivated and
then other piece so kind of as a knock on effect, which is pretty
cool, right right, And I wont as it goes along, you're going
to have couples or maybe you have already. Maybe it's like a dating inside
as well. Yeah, the name Burder we actually for a name we were
called, and then we started trying to sort of formalize that name, and
we were struggling. We basically looked at evans on the internet and good and
names that we could trade. I mean when its like short and you had
about one hundred different names bird and there sure when you use the platform a
Strava feel to it and genality and what you can do and trying to as
a friendly and I rather yeah, yeah, it's about birds name it's perfect,
it's perfect. Each have a favorite bird, we do you do?
Okay, go first? So which sort of reflects on favorite uk bird,
which a great spotted woodpecker, which are very striking birds. I just think
wod pull birds. And then my sort of which is where I spent a
lot of chart bird, which is this very kind of tall, it's got
very long walking very gracefully through the cool hair. Do you cool bird?
Cool? And John mine is the bones little fifty upper And yeah it's also
South African pact difficult toy in South Africa and Naskan Creaker National Park. I've
also got to have to competitions. The one is a bond swallow because of
their loves in partly loves in Africa. Like you, right, that's perfect.
So before we go for someone who wants to get started with the app,
take lookings around you see what birds you can find, and once you've
logged them, we automate for you and once you go loveless, Ye,
there your first size badge, which is a pretty cool little badgade, and
you can kind of get started. I love it. Natalie and Genres of
Burda, thank you.