Help in recording birds (1 Viewer)

I'm new to birding and am keen to keep records of all birds I've seen as a record - I know you all probably do this anyway, but I'm keen to make full use of IT for this, as well as a paper record.

Can I cheekily ask if anyone can forward me a copy of any Access or Excel database 'templates' that they use that will allow me to see what I've seen as well as when and where I saw it?

Thanks

Alan

Hi Alan, and welcome to the forum. I can't help with your request, because until recently the only birds I watched seriously were those in my garden, for the BTO GardenBirdwatch. I've only been out on 3 birding expeditions, and the way I list my sightings causes a serious birding friend to despair of me!

Elizabeth Bigg said:

Hi Alan, and welcome to the forum. I can't help with your request, because until recently the only birds I watched seriously were those in my garden, for the BTO GardenBirdwatch. I've only been out on 3 birding expeditions, and the way I list my sightings causes a serious birding friend to despair of me!

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Well, you can't simply leave it at that :bounce:

I've so far, been on 3 myself and they're sitting in a scappy notepad until I find a good way of noting them electronically...........let's hope someone comes up with the goods for both our sakes?



Alan

Alan G said:

Well, you can't simply leave it at that :bounce:

I've so far, been on 3 myself and they're sitting in a scappy notepad until I find a good way of noting them electronically...........let's hope someone comes up with the goods for both our sakes?



Alan

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Why not - I'm not an avid lister!!! Two of them are now on my computer, in alphabetical order for each day, and at the moment I'm quite happy with that. Hope I don't get the dreaded disease - I wonder if I could be vaccinated against twitching?

Careful, Elizabeth, or you'll have the wrath of the 8,000 bearing down on you! It's not just twitchers who keep bird records and databases. Many also use them for keeping the everyday sightings that we send to the county recorders.

Alan: I do have an Access database, but it's very personalised and quite complex. I could send a template, but it would probably be easier for you to start from scratch. From posts I've seen elsewhere I'm certain others have more generally useful ones they could send. And I think there may be a couple of freeware/shareware programmes about too.

Bluetail said:

Careful, Elizabeth, or you'll have the wrath of the 8,000 bearing down on you! It's not just twitchers who keep bird records and databases. Many also use them for keeping the everyday sightings that we send to the county recorders.

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Sorry - I didn't mean to imply that all those who keep lists are twitchers (and I am definitely not one of those people who think all bird watching people can be described as such - I was even called this once). However I am amused by the way people are so keen to increase their "tick" numbers when they go birding. I just like to go out watching and listening, and then I keep of list of the ones I recognise - and probably miss the many I don't know. I sent a list of sightings to my knowlegeable friend, and put it into alphabetical order for easy reading - but apparently it should have been in Voous order, whatever that is.

BTW - when I contacted my county recorder about the 72 siskins in my garden, he was not particularly impressed - we thought it was rather amazing!

Elizabeth Bigg said:

BTW - when I contacted my county recorder about the 72 siskins in my garden, he was not particularly impressed - we thought it was rather amazing!

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Well I think that's pretty amazing. I'd be hard put to squeeze 72 Siskins into my garden at all. (OK, I exaggerate a bit...). I've just looked up The Atlas of Wintering Birds and the Siskin map there does give the impression that flocks of 51+ in Surrey area are not unusual. Probably your recorder was seeing your flock in that light. But, impressed or not, I would expect that he still took note of what you said - I hope so, anyway.

Alan,
Good luck with your list keeping. I believe the access program that Brian mentioned above will be sufficient. Keeping a list serves more purposes than one might initially think. Last year I finally organized all my little trip notes and Field Guide margin notes into a comprehensive list. This has added a discipline to my birdwatching that was missing. While enjoying the birds you see is important, increasing my overall knowledge of birds is just as important to me. List keeping really helps me here. First it gives me a good record of where I've been and what I've seen there. Now I can sort my list by an area and check it against a published list of all birds seen in that area and get an idea of what I'm "not seeing". I then try to learn a little about the birds I haven't found yet and start looking in those habitats or conditions that would favor finding them.

In my "local patch" I have only found about 55% of all birds recorded there so I know I have a long ways to go. And this year I've started a "year list" (actually just a sort on the same database) and this has pushed me a little harder to actively search for all the birds in my area. And this helps me learn more about them.