Anyone using a handheld for birding? (1 Viewer)

Thanks a lot Pete, that seems to work. However the connection problem now lies with my ISP.

Regards

Mark

Using a Dell Axim X5,running Pocket Bird Recorder,have Bird Recorder on my main computer and just transfer my sightings across after a days birding.Also have one ar two games on as well to while away those quite moments.

Hello Geoff,
I was wondering on pocket bird recorder
can you save as .csv file?
Also what are the fields that can be filled in?

(I am just trying to work out whether I could use pocket bird recorder on the pda and then be able to get that info into Mapmate on the Pc.)

Hi peteh you realise you are asking someone who is not very technically minded the wrong sort of questions here.All I can say is that if you visit www.wildlife.co.uk you should be able to get all your answers there,if not send them an email.

Geoff :t:

Colin said:

I have to agree with what Michael said very early in this thread - I don't think any palmtop/handheld would last very long in the damp/rain. I have a Psion but I don't use it outside. I stick to a notebook and pencil (not a pen since the ink runs in the rain).

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Nobodies mentioned the good old mini-tape recorder! Used it for years never had any problems in bad weather, stick it in the pocket with a mic extention. Pencil/Pen and paper OK 'til the pen runs out;-)

CB

Yep got one Myself, There Very good but i had to spend a lot of time entering sightings into the PC from my Mini Tape Recoder, As to viewing Pictures in the Field, Yet to be Tried, My PDA takes SD cards and Camera takes Cf cards, Planning to try a CF Adapter Card as found on the Web, with one slight problem is the small Compact Flash access door on the Coolpix 4500 will have to remain open as the adapter is longer than std CF Card, With the Adapter in the Camera the SD Card pushes into that. When i buy the SD Card i will give it a go !

Another option for using a handheld for recording sightings in the fieild is Avisys, industrial-strength listing software which is fairly popular with American birders and offers a Palm OS module:

http://www.avisys.net/

I use Avisys and generally like it but do not have a handheld so have not tried the Palm software. Glen

digimad said:

Yep got one Myself, There Very good but i had to spend a lot of time entering sightings into the PC from my Mini Tape Recoder, As to viewing Pictures in the Field, Yet to be Tried, My PDA takes SD cards and Camera takes Cf cards, Planning to try a CF Adapter Card as found on the Web, with one slight problem is the small Compact Flash access door on the Coolpix 4500 will have to remain open as the adapter is longer than std CF Card, With the Adapter in the Camera the SD Card pushes into that. When i buy the SD Card i will give it a go !

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Does anyone do an adaptor that will convert SD to Compact flash i.e a kind of card reader type device.

Mark

Hi Digimad,
another option when your ipaq only has the sd slot
is to get the Krussel Whitney Cf jacket.
I think its about 60$ and it basically is a leather case with a compact flash slot built in.
Regards
Pete.

Thanks for the advice Pete,I have bought the Gadget i mentioned before it pushes into the CF slot on the camera, And the SD goes into that so it should put the pictures onto that,Is this the sort of thing you were looking for Mark?(M N Reader), If so look on this website www.widget.co.uk

I use my iPAQ for playing back bird sounds as well (via Windows Media Player). Plus I'll occasionally wire it up to my Eagle handhelp GPS via a homebrew cable to find out where the heck I am! LOVE my iPAQ.

digimad said:

Thanks for the advice Pete,I have bought the Gadget i mentioned before it pushes into the CF slot on the camera, And the SD goes into that so it should put the pictures onto that,Is this the sort of thing you were looking for Mark?(M N Reader), If so look on this website www.widget.co.uk

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Not quite what I meant. I was thinking of am adaptor that slots into the SD card slot and lets meinsert CF cards, rather like a CF card reader.
However I would certainly be interested in how much success you have using that adaptor inside your coolpix.

Cheers
Mark

Now i understand it's that way round you want to work with the Cards,. That is what i have been looking for but no luck yet,So i could plug my Camera CF card into my PDA which takes SD,So have done the next best thing i hope (When my SD card arrives) a Plug in adapter for the Camera. I will let you know how i get on.

So with your iPAQs etc, can you check up the latest rariies on here too?

You can with a Ipaq and mobile phone. Either connected via a cable or bluetooth.
The one I have has Bluetooth (wireless) connection
so all I do is connect to my isp using the mobile as the modem and I can get my emails, surf the web, send photos ive just taken out in the field (if it was that important)
etc etc
Regards
Pete.

I've thought that it would be nice to have an abbreviated field guide in a PDA of some sort. There are some larger notepads that are pretty much environmentalized that presumably would work but are kinda expensive. Don't know of any environmentalized PDAs.

Anyway, I don't think the PDAs have reached a threshold of available memory where you could store a useful field guide. Although the screens go about 320 by 320 pixels, I don't think you would need that many for an image to be useful. The text of an existing field guide would probably have to be rewritten for a PDA. Paper and screen seem to require different kinds of text to be optimized for each. I have no idea what kind of interface would make the browse or lookup quick enough to be useful in the field.

If the memory capacity of the little guys ever got to be big enough, it would be neat to have a digeo kind of capability for those birds where behavior counts.

I think I've seen some sticks for sale with 20 or 30 birds on them, doesn't seem to be enough to be useful

I have just tested a Compact Flash Adapter i mentioned before that fits into my Cool Pix 4500 (If you don't mind it sticking out of the CF slot) and Secure Digital cards push into it, So as to view Pictures in the field on a PDA, It works,although remains to be seen how i get on in the field carrying it about!

acgranville said:

Handango.com, the biggest distributor of PDA software, lists a number of field guides for users of certain Palm and Sony PDAs. They're from the National Wildlife Federation and are organized by states of the U.S.--e.g., Familiar Birds of California. (http://www.handango.com/PlatformPro...tionId=0&catalog=1&txtSearch=bird+field+guide). It appears that these products were released in December, 2003. The publisher advertises:

"Field guide to 90 California birds (including Trail & Backyard birds, Shore & Water birds, and Birds of Prey) makes identification easier than ever by combining a best-selling field guide with new multimedia features for handhelds. The collection includes stunning full-color photographs, augmented with detailed species descriptions, range maps, and life history information. Users can listen to bird audio, zoom in on bird photos, and search for birds by name, size, group and color."

Many publishers of PDA software offer free trial versions that can be downloaded directly from the Web. The National Wildlife Federation apparently does not offer free trials, but the products are cheap enough ($9.99 for most) to pique one's interest. I have not tested any of these, but would be interested in hearing from anyone else who has.

Arthur

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Hi folks:

I'm new to this forum but have birding for a number of years now. I have also been using a Palm for many years and actually made my own bird checklist years ago before anyone made commercially available software for the Palm with regards to birding. Anyway, I got a Palm Tungsten C for Christmas and in searching for samples of movie clips to use with the Kinoma player software, I stumbled on a sample of this NWF software on the Kinoma web site so I downloaded it to my Palm. I personally was majorly impressed. Impressed enough to go to the website and buy all 4 modules for NJ. Impressed enough to go buy a 256 meg SD card to store the modules on. I was very pleased with the pictures, the audio, and the ability to zoom in and out of the picture to see details. Using tabs you can switch to a picture of the bird that displays all of the major distinctive characteristics of that bird. The next tab is an audio tab which is an option on many but not all species. My feeling is audio is a must for nearly every species. Then there is a common breeding map display. My main critique of the software was that all 4 modules may not be necessary because there is some overlapping of species from module to module. Also, due to space limitations, some birds that are very common to your state may not be listed. However, the good news is, a Premier edition is going to be available on a separate memory card which should be more inclusive! I'm going to get that and I'm looking forward to seeing how it compares to what I have now. I also submitted feedback suggesting that a checklist be included as part of the package. I feel it would be great if you could do your checklist and have the option to attach a picture of the checked bird and upload it to a website or your own PC..sort of like a video diary of a particular outing. I've submitted these suggestions to NWF and it seems like they were very receptive to them. I HIGHLY recommend this program to anyone willing to use their PDA in the field who doesn't want to have to carry a guide book. I believe right now it is only available for PALM but they are working on a version for the other formats of PDA's. Visit ENATURE.COM for more info.However, if you know you are looking for a 'rare' sighting thats in the area, it will be a good idea to have a guide in book form nearby.

Fly free,

Shooey :flyaway:

Years ago I got Palm M100, and must say, that it is like BF - addictive. I use it much in daily routines and often in birding, too. I can use it also below freezing point with gloves on (keeping Palm warm in my pocket). The batteries & lack of card utility are the stumpling points (NiMh last best) - changing them occasionally empties the memory & I have to reset the device from my PC. That's why I can't rely on it if I am several days out.

Wife has M515 (with a card), and does large botanical Excel lists with that. When I get rich I will also buy me a proper tool

Has anyone tried digiscoping with built-in-camera-handheld?