Best in field recording method (1 Viewer)

[Geoff WORCS]

Best in-field recording method

Birdtrack is an excellent resource and conservation tool and I think anyone interested in helping to protect birds should be using it. In case you wern't aware you can now post your sitings from around the globe.
I recently acquired an android tablet and discovered an app. which allows me to post my birdtrack sittings while in the field. All very clever, time saving no doubt and up to the minute tech , call me an old technophobe fart which I probably am but the biggest draw back this and indeed any system of field note taking has got to be that dreaded phrase LBT, or lost birding time !

In my humble 50 year old opinion field note taking impinges significantly by taking your eye off the ball or in this case the bird But it takes just seconds I here you say to jot down what you've seen. Well for me those seconds are precious, we birders have the ability to i.d. birds in split seconds so why would we be wasting potentially many minutes looking at a note book or computer screen during our birding day ?
I have come to realise the best way for me is to make my recordings verbally. I can record what I see straight into my mobile without even having to look at it. I can even make verbal descriptions, and the phone of course records the date and time all of which can be accessed when I get home. So there you have it surely the most efficient field note taking technique, what say you ?

 

[Andy Hurley]

I will be taking park in the Waterfowl Count taking place across Germany on Sunday, for the first time. We are going as a group because several of us are new to bird counts. This means more eyes making observations, so little will be missed.
Your idea is great, except that I don't have an iphone and wouldn't know how to record with it either, so I'll stick to p&p, I can write without looking, except a cursory glance at my starting point. Whats wrong with the old dictaphones? You don't get interupted with "whatsup" messages or people trying to reach you for banal reasons the whole time. (One reason I don't like mobile phones, that and touch screens don't work for me, I need a touch pen to get them to do anything.)

 

[pppppvvvv]

This has reminded me of a blog entry I made a while back, which echoes your thoughts, and also got a reply back from a BTO app developer..

http://birding-diary.blogspot.com/2012/04/bto-birdtrack-android-app-reviewed.html

April 2012.. I am so leading edge it hurts!!
Peter

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I find the BirdTrack app very good indeed and, in general at least, it's a very quick way of recording things (probably at least as quick for me as writing in a notebook). Sound recording your notes is okay but it takes a lot longer to process when you get home (time that might be better spent birding in the field). It's maybe a good method for recording descriptions of birds though. The Remembird voice recorder that attached to binoculars was particularly good for this, although the device (which I don't think is made any more) was a bit too unreliable for my liking. You could record without taking your bins off the bird, which is a great idea.

 

[Geoff WORCS]

QUOTE=Andy Hurley;3069794]
Your idea is great, except that I don't have an iphone and wouldn't know how to record with it either, so I'll stick to p&p, I can write without looking, except a cursory glance at my starting point. Whats wrong with the old dictaphones? You don't get interupted with "whatsup" messages or people trying to reach you for banal reasons the whole time. (One reason I don't like mobile phones, that and touch screens don't work for me, I need a touch pen to get them to do anything.)[/QUOTE]

Hi Andy, I dont have an iphone either just a non touch screen phone with a simple record mode option. yes I have used a dictaphone but the 'old' ones with cassettes were noisey, no doubt there are digital ones now. I'm sure P&p is fine for of the sort of counts you are undertaking. As for 'whatsup' banality ? That's life I guess .
All the best with your waterfowl count.
Geoff

 

[Mike Crawley]

Done lots of surveys and have to say that I'm a pen and paper fan myself, still works even if you drop it in a puddle !!

 

[Nutcracker]

Whats wrong with the old dictaphones?

They pack in if you use them on a damp day :C

 

[Andy Hurley]

They pack in if you use them on a damp day :C

Oh!, a bit like DSLR's then

 

[davercox]

I guess there are two different questions here :
recording your observations on a stroll round your patch is fine using a little digital voice recorder (maybe the Birdtrack app is good for that, don't know, how much chance does it give you to change your mind ?) but I still prefer pencil and paper;
writing a description of a scarcity/rarity needs pencil and paper, surely ? maybe it depends on whether you can draw or not ? don't rarities committees still like to see field notes made at the time (or do I belong in the Luddites thread :-C) ?

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

(maybe the Birdtrack app is good for that, don't know, how much chance does it give you to change your mind ?)

You can edit your records using the app or on the website back home. I think you can still edit them after they've been submitted, so you can probably change your mind as much as you like and for as long as you like.

 

[pppppvvvv]

Evernote is a nice app, accepts typing, checklist with tick boxes, and/or voice messages onto phone or tablet.
(Plus the "speech to text" is pretty accurate)
Syncs in the background to the internet, and easy to share notes to other places on web.
Can pick it up on your PC / web browser back at home

 

[stuartvine]

I'll stick with the Luddites - pen (or pencil) and paper. Adaptable, can do quick sketches easily, reasonably weatherproof (totally if you use a waterproof notebook and a pencil), cheap and doesn't run out of charge.

 

[chris butterworth]

Pen and paper for me. Apart from the ease of use, no need to carry spare batteries around, buggering about with different OS or finding what I'm using has become redundant there's a permanancy with paper that is lacking in other methods. I've still got all 54 years of field notebooks plus 37 A4 page-a-day diaries I use for garden observations, general wildlife obs and write-ups at the end of the days birding. I can pull out a box file, at any time, and relive not only a day's birding from the past, plus anything incidental that occurred.