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"Scythebill" Easy to Use Bird Recording Software for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux (1 Viewer)

It's been over a year since I last chimed in here, and since this thread has become a top search result, I think it behooves me to do so...

Since that last February update, Scythebill has:
- Added checklists for (nearly) all the countries of the world, as well as all the states and provinces of the US, Canada, and Australia, and many of the counties of the UK.
- Added ridiculously easy support for building your own custom checklists
- Supported every single IOC update within 2 days
- Supported the Clements/eBird 6.8 update in just over a week
- Added Avisys and eBird import (and did one-off imports for a number of users from other, less common formats)
- Added a full-blown Windows installer, making the process of installation much simpler (no separate Java download required anymore)
- Added "remembered reports", for immediate access to all your favorite lists
- And much more (much more powerful editing, breeding bird codes, Western Palearctic region report, font size tweaking...)

As always, let me know if you have problems (or kudos too, I take those as well)!
 
I've looked at it a couple of times and I'm afraid I just don't find it either easy to use or particularly user friendly. I guess everyone's needs will vary but for simple, in the field recording - as a Mac user - I've eventually settled on Birdwatcher's diary for data capture, and uploading to eBird for analysis and reporting. This way no Mac software is required, which suits me as I've not found a Mac program I like other than Bird Brain and that's too expensive for my taste.

Of course this solution only works if you have an iPhone or iPad or iPod, and you do have to buy BW Diary software but once that's done you get the benefit of eBird's resources and archiving. And being able to upload a list 'live' in the field is pretty cool and quite reassuring... YMMV
 
Absolutely! If you're comfortable with eBird as software to own and backup and maintain your life list, there's lots of advantages in going that way.
 
I think some of the criticism levelled at the program is unfair. It's not meant for `on the move' list keeping, it's meant to be a tool that keeps a master list of all the birds you've seen. It is *not* tied to a specific OS, and it's free.

I've been a very happy user for quite a while now. It keeps my lifelist (currently over four continents) and allows me to create lists of what I've seen in all sorts of ways (Which members of a particular family have I seen? What's my year list for 2013? Which birds have I seen in the UK?) It keeps the list in a simple file that can be edited by hand and, more importantly, which contains all my data in a way that I could extract even if Scythebill stops being supported one day.

It has a particular philosophy of usage which some people may find less than intuitive at first, but it really isn't difficult to use.

Andrea
 
I've just started using this on a recommendation but it looks excellent - I particularly like the input method (and bird options that come up once a few letters are input), IOC and export options (the spreadsheet option is great and I can use it for my Trip Reports).

Especially love the copy/paste from a trip report and the program will find the species and create a list for you - huge timesaver and a great idea !

Great job Adam !

:clap::clap: B :) :clap::clap:
 
I am a Mac user who until recently had to use Parallels and Windows XP for just 2 programs, both of which are important to me as a birder and small business owner - Avisys for my bird lists, and MS Money for my book-keeping. I have been doing all my other computing directly with OSX. I hate Parallels, and I didn't want to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8 now that XP is no longer supported.

Finally I have have found software that fulfills these needs on the Mac, and I have done away with Parallels and WinXP. The bookkeeping program is IBank, and the birding is Scythebill. I find Scythebill excellent, and I can easily extract the same info as I can with Avisys -e.g. trip reports, how many lifers have I seen in NS in 2013? etc. The interface isn't quite as nice looking as Avisys, and I haven't explored all the nuances and very sophisticated data mining that Avisys can apparently do, but for me Scythebill works very nicely (I can say the same about IBank vs MS Money).

I also have an Iphone and a Nexus 5 Android phone, and I use MyBirdObservations app on these for trip lists and other lists, and I use BirdLogNA for entering data into EBird "on the fly". Scythebill is now the repository of my master list.

All this may sound unnecessarily complex, but for me it isn't, and the process is very quick - particularly as I have my Android phone with me all the time, and I can later enter just the important new stuff (e.g. a lifer, a new country or province, a newly photographed bird etc.) into Scythebill later at leisure.

Richard
 
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