How do I start my Life List (1 Viewer)

I really love birds but have always done bird watching on a sort of adhoc basis. I have so many interests that this one has tended to be in the background. In 1989 I studied in the US for a year and had a free subject slot so decided to fill it with an Ornithology course. I realise now how very lucky I was because it still surprises me how quickly I can identify a bird purely because I had such a good grounding in classification.

However, I have never put together a Life List and often never kept a list at all - it was just pure enjoyment of birds. In the Seychelles, for example, I bought a small field guide and just have ticks against the birds I identified.

This web site has really inspired me and although I still don't think I have the time to get into creating extensive field notes I would love to keep a record of the birds I have seen. I travel quite frequently and with Mexico in a month's time and Costa Rica in a year's time I want to do it more seriously.

So, my question is: what can I legitimately put on my Life List. Once I have my Life List what are the bare details I should record (eg bird, place, date?)?

It is your list, so you can pretty much do what you want with it. However, generally wild birds are put on a life list, i.e. no escaped birds, captive birds, or introduced birds that do not have sustainable population.

For Britain, the list of acceptable birds can be found here: The British List Thus you would only record birds in the categories "A", "B", and "C".

Personally, I record name, date, time, number of birds, location, notes on any unusal behaviour, weather.

Like Hanno says, "your list, your rules". To add to what Hanno says about birds being wild before most people put them on their list, I think that most birders only count a bird as a "new one" if it is a species rather than a subspecies (which, as you know as an ornithologist, may well look very different and even have a different name). Obviously views among scientists vary on this issue, but there are checklists available as books or computer software, that list all the species and subspecies of the world's birds, as seen by that scientific body at that time. I think most people currently use the checklists of Clements, Sibley and Monroe, or Howard and Moore, to define what is a species.

In addition some people impose other rules, such as having to identify the bird yourself rather than relying on the opinion of someone with more experience (or a better view !) ,or not counting introduced species even if they have established a viable population.

There is much discussion on other threads in the list section of the forum on "what do I count" type issues.

If you're off to Costa Rica and Mexico, that list of yours is going to get pretty big pretty quickly . Also there are many times that I wish I'd taken more notes, so write as many as you find the time for !

I keep seperate lists for every country I have visited. If I am visiting a particular country for the second or third time I start a new list.

For every bird, mammal, reptile or amphibian I see in the wild, I record common name, Latin name, date and brief notes on the location. If a species is observed in more than one place I write something like: 'found in several/many locations e.g. Bridlington harbour and Flamborough Cliffs.' I try to keep more detailed notes in a diary.

Like you I used to tick off birds in the guide book before I started listing. If you can remember the dates you saw a species you can easily compile a list from the data. When I came to write my Australian list (spent period of 8 months in this fantastic country) I cross-referenced my bird guide with detailed notes I had made at the time. I still had to miss off a significant number of species from the list because of poor notes and anomalies with dates/locations etc. In other words I only added species I was 100% sure I had seen.

I didn't start my British list until I had been birding for about a year. I used a diary to record all the species I had seen to date, although when I had finished I realised that many common species were missing. I made a point of catching up on these birds recording the date and place when I next saw them. I tend to only state the place and date I first observed a particular species. Obviously I add to this list every time I see a new bird in the UK.

I keep lists for my own personal satisfaction and to remind me of the wonderful wildlife I have seen. As the others state above, how you compile your lists is completely up to you.

Very good advice listed above. I would emphasize the importance of listing with at least species, date, location. Using the check boxes in a field guide becomes worthless when years later you cannot recall exactly where or when you saw that bird. Basic lists in a diary is helpful for transferring into a more permanent list format later.

Great Advise!

Fantastic advise. Thanks. I like Mike's idea of keeping a separate list for each country. I can pretty much use my list from South Africa in Nov last year because it was the first time I put the date and place next to all the birds I had seen. However, my lists from the US, Seychelles and Malaysia are just ticks - no place, date so feel I should leave these off. I do have a couple of photographs with dates and places so I might allow myself these.

Britain I will start from scratch and with my new Leica 8 x 32 trinovids that I bought this morning I am like a kid in a sweet shop!