How do you record your sightings? (1 Viewer)

I think that the one thing that hasn't been mentioned is why record at all?

If you solely want to keep a personal record of what you see and that is it, then it doesn't matter where you put the information.

If you want to share this information and it to assist in the understanding of species trends and dynamics then it has to go somewhere that the information is available. This is making your data part of a citizen science project that helps other birders, conservation and scientists.

The key thing then is the moderation of the records, the security of the data, and your accessibility to the data set.

I have tried Birdtrack, igoterra and others in my time, before settling on eBird.

Yes it is birds only, yes it has moderation and yes it is 'probably' the largest citizen science project in the world. It gives lots of graphics, the mobile app works - so far anywhere I have been (10 countries in 2 continents) and gives easy access to others birding in the same area.

The adoption by others around the world is amazing, over 700k checklists submitted in August, and 27 countries more than doubling their submissions over last year.

I agree it is patchy in terms of pick up, but some countries eg Israel have adopted it as the platform for all their bird recording.

As it has subspecies I can live with the difference with IOC, although this appears to be diminishing with every update.

With the records held by Cornell University - they are not going to disappear and the data is open source If I was paranoid, I would download it to keep my records.

However as someone has said. It is only a good as the inputted records. The moderators do a good job, but there are always things that slip through. It is easy to question these. Peer review, however is only possible for anything in the public domain.

My recording process is...….
Everything goes in field notebooks. I get through three a year and have about 120 stored somewhere. Separate ones for trips to eg South America, Africa etc.
Then daily summaries go into a page-a-day diary.
Everything goes onto eBird.
Records in the UK also get sent to county recorders by whatever system they use.
I also use Bubo to keep my lists, and also Igoterra as that is a source of information not available on Bubo or eBird.
I prefer Clements/Cornell/eBird taxonomy but use IOC for my British recording.

Following up something mentioned above, eBird does list all races if you select the right setting, so you could enter the races of Brent Geese separately if you wanted to. But no list will have them as separate species as no proper authority has yet split them.

Steve

I keep my birds and wildlife notes by writing everything down as I see it on my way around the reserve, or any place I happen to be at the time.
I also photograph landmarks so I know where I am between bird hides. This is an aid into helping me produce a report at the end of the days birding, and it gives a feeling of what the place was like to visit

I have written (long bird reports) many from Menorca, Spain), and added them onto the BirdForum, RSPB and my other wildlife Forums over the past 12 years or so and I enjoy doing that.

oooo

I think in Africa Birdlasser is a good app to record your sightings. If you register with SABAP2 (the second southern Africa Bird Atlas Project), you can submit your records as atlas records (from anywhere in Africa). it can be used elsewhere in the world as well as other species lists are included. Follows IOC.

I note down all trip sightings on my phone and transfer it to Scythebill afterwards. This app has greatly simplified my sorting and recording of bird lists plus you can choose which taxonomy you want to follow (IOC/Clements). It allows you to generate a large range of reports as well based on specific criteria (world lifers map, date, location, etc). Worth giving a try if you are considering moving your records to a digital platform or looking for a better app to consolidate your lists.