Ready when you are
Finding birds near you…
Getting your location
Species appear by real eBird frequency & recency — high-probability local birds repeat more often to sharpen real-world recognition.
Birder tools
A practical toolkit powered by live eBird sightings — find the birds around you right now, plan where to go next, and drill the exact species you'll meet in the field. Every tool feeds straight into a quiz.
New here? See how everything works →
Find
Plan
Learn
B
Birder
Level 1
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Total XP
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Answered
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Accuracy
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Best streak
Badges
Leaderboard
| # | Birder | Best | Lv | Region |
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Monitor
Application health & growth · admin only
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Privacy Policy
Flyway is built to be light on data. Here's exactly what it touches. Last updated: 18 July 2026.
What stays on your device
Your preferences, birder name, quiz stats, XP, badges, and cached bird photos/taxonomy are stored locally in your browser (localStorage). They never leave your device unless you sign in.
Sign-in tokens
If you sign in by email, authentication is handled by Netlify Identity. A session token is stored in your browser so you stay signed in; we never see or store your password (there isn't one — sign-in is a one-tap email link). Your email is used only to identify your account and send that link.
Your account & what's public
When you sign in, we store the information needed to run the leaderboards on our server: your chosen birder name, your level, and your best scores per region. If you set a favorite bird as your profile picture, we also store that bird's name and a link to its photo so it can appear as your avatar. This profile information is public — your birder name, level, region, and profile picture are shown on leaderboards visible to anyone using Flyway. You can change or remove your favorite bird any time from the Profile tab, and you can delete your account and all associated data from the same place.
Location
When you use "current location" or search a place, the coordinates are sent to eBird (to fetch nearby sightings) and to geocoding providers (Open-Meteo, BigDataCloud) to name the place. We do not store your precise location. Leaderboards use only a coarse anchor — coordinates rounded to the nearest 0.5° (roughly a 50 km area).
What we never do
We do not sell, rent, monetize, or distribute your personal data or location. There is no advertising and no third-party tracking.
Third-party data
Bird sightings come from eBird / the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; photos from iNaturalist contributors; sound recordings from xeno-canto and iNaturalist contributors; descriptions from Wikipedia; geocoding from Open-Meteo and BigDataCloud. Their respective privacy and usage terms apply to data they provide.
See also: Terms of Service →
Terms of Service
Plain-language terms for using Flyway. Last updated: 18 July 2026.
What Flyway is
Flyway is an independent software tool provided for educational and recreational use — a study aid for learning bird identification. It is offered free of charge.
Your account & profile
Creating an account is optional and free. When you create one you confirm that you agree to these Terms and the Privacy Policy. Your birder name and profile picture (your chosen favorite bird) are public on the leaderboards, so keep them appropriate — no impersonation, offensive, or infringing content. We may remove content, names, or accounts that abuse these terms. You can delete your account and all associated data at any time from the Profile tab.
No affiliation
Flyway is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by eBird or the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, iNaturalist, Wikipedia, Open-Meteo, or BigDataCloud. All bird data, media, and geocoding are provided by those third parties and remain subject to their own terms and licenses. Flyway simply displays that data for learning.
"As-is", no warranty
Flyway is provided "as is," without warranties of any kind. Sighting probabilities, identifications, and field marks are approximate and may be incomplete or incorrect. Do not rely on Flyway for scientific, safety, or official purposes. Your use is at your own risk.
Acceptable use
Please use Flyway lawfully and don't attempt to abuse the leaderboard, disrupt the service, or misuse the underlying data APIs beyond their providers' terms.
Changes
These terms and the app may change over time. Continued use means you accept the current version.
See also: Privacy Policy →
