Computer Software (1 Viewer)

[Waxwing007]

Good Evening All

Could someone please advise me on which/what computer software is available to keep a record of all my bird sightings in the U.K

Kind regards

Steve

 

[njlarsen]

For a program that keeps the data on your own PC: Scythebill

For programs where your data are included with many other people's data and which helps with citizen science, Ebird and probably a host of others.
Niels

 

[Stuart Goodwin]

Good Evening All

Could someone please advise me on which/what computer software is available to keep a record of all my bird sightings in the U.K

Kind regards

Steve

Morning.

I use Birdjournal. It can also, for a small annual fee, also record butterflies, dragonflies (as long as someone has create the lists).

Regards.

 

[Ignatius]

Excel for wintel users (costs money and isn't compatible with anyhing else), Numbers for mac (iirc free and compatible with excel afaik), and openoffice/libreoffice calc for everyone else (is free and compatible with all others).

 

[BogBean]

Excel for wintel users (costs money and isn't compatible with anyhing else), Numbers for mac (iirc free and compatible with excel afaik), and openoffice/libreoffice calc for everyone else (is free and compatible with all others).

If you are going to use raw systems without the structure, you'd be much better served using ebird, or bto bird track.
(You could download your data from these portals to your PC, in an excel compatible format if you subsequently wanted something pc based. )
But definitely start on the established citizen science portals like ebird and bird track. (Or Inaturalist for all plants and animals worldwide, with a healthy user base of people to verify your sightings, in addition to "AI" identification. Where would we be without this haha)

 

[THE_FERN]

Better ways to do this are scythebill or some other database (access, postgres, mysql, sqlite, duckdb etc) but most of these involve some specialist knowledge. Scythebill is likely the easiest option. It's built on a database and specifically designed for birders.

Many go for some spreadsheet. It's easier to get started but suffers lots of shortcomings which scale with the number of records. Most of these don't impinge too much on casual users. The one which does is the fact that edits are essentially cryptic (unless you set things up with lots of effort). So it's really easy to accidentally corrupt your data without noticing.

 

[THE_FERN]

Ebird etc is another good choice for getting started. The web interface gives you reasonable flexibility in cutting your data (by time period, species, location etc). As your dataset grows/you get more technically proficiency, its inflexibility will become more apparent. In particular you may find its ties to Clements grate. Alternatives include igoterra (paid), and avibase has some list functions (see others in previous post too)

 

[delia todd]

Better ways to do this are scythebill

The owner of this is a member here and is very good at responding to queries if you post in this area of Birdforum (username awiner).

 

[temmie]

Ebird etc is another good choice for getting started. The web interface gives you reasonable flexibility in cutting your data (by time period, species, location etc). As your dataset grows/you get more technically proficiency, its inflexibility will become more apparent. In particular you may find its ties to Clements grate. Alternatives include igoterra (paid), and avibase has some list functions (see others in previous post too)

Observation is free and has a sound database.

Not paid, easy to extract and import data (from/to ebird, scythebill, whatever), easy to filter / visualize your own data or other's data, either on a map or in a list of species (all species groups covered). App is very intuitive as well, and has species ID based on pics (very, very handy in the field for certain species groups I always confuse, e.g. butterflies, moths, plants,...).

just an extract (comma separated file) from some data entries:

id

date

time

created

species name

scientific name

family

species type

species group

number

sex

life stage

activity

method

counting method

related species

source

location

lat

lng

modified

country division

country

validator name

last validation date

accuracy

notes

validation status

substrate

is certain

is escape

obscurity

embargo date

external reference

has photos

has sounds

link

309239036​

12-5-2024​

17:58:00​

2024-05-12 19:19:42.299704

Dorset Cream Wave

Stegania trimaculata

Geometridae (Geometer moths)

Species

Moths (Lepidoptera)

1​

U

imago

present

unknown

unknown

iObs

Munkzwalm (Dg)

50.873.164​

3.740.473​

14-5-2024​

Oost-Vlaanderen

Belgium

Wim Veraghtert

14-5-2024​

3​

J

True

False

0​

True

False

Drievlekspanner - Stegania trimaculata 1 imago 2024-05-12 Munkzwalm (OV) waarnemingen.be

309365104​

13-5-2024​

09:49:00​

2024-05-13 15:10:56.564818

Melodious Warbler

Hippolais polyglotta

Reed Warblers & Allies (Acrocephalidae)

Species

Birds

1​

U

unknown

present

unknown

unknown

iObs

Achterhaven - CTO (CTO)

51.317.998​

3.203.326​

13-5-2024​

West-Vlaanderen

Belgium

3​

O

True

False

0​

False

False

Orpheusspotvogel - Hippolais polyglotta 1 ter plaatse 2024-05-13 Achterhaven - CTO (CTO) (WV) waarnemingen.be

309365106​

13-5-2024​

09:49:00​

2024-05-13 15:10:56.922374

Common Reed Warbler

Acrocephalus scirpaceus

Reed Warblers & Allies (Acrocephalidae)

Species

Birds

1​

U

unknown

present

unknown

unknown

iObs

Achterhaven - CTO (CTO)

51.317.951​

3.203.339​

13-5-2024​

West-Vlaanderen

Belgium

Automatic validation

3​

A

True

False

0​

False

False

Kleine Karekiet - Acrocephalus scirpaceus 1 ter plaatse 2024-05-13 Achterhaven - CTO (CTO) (WV) waarnemingen.be

309365107​

13-5-2024​

09:50:00​

2024-05-13 15:10:57.326527

Zitting Cisticola

Cisticola juncidis

Cisticolas & Allies (Cisticolidae)

Species

Birds

1​

U

unknown

present

unknown

unknown

iObs

Achterhaven - CTO (CTO)

51.317.326​

3.203.564​

13-5-2024​

West-Vlaanderen

Belgium

3​

O

True

False

0​

False

False

Graszanger - Cisticola juncidis 1 ter plaatse 2024-05-13 Achterhaven - CTO (CTO) (WV) waarnemingen.be

309365108​

13-5-2024​

09:51:00​

2024-05-13 15:10:57.735133

Common Quail

Coturnix coturnix

Pheasants & Allies (Phasianidae)

Species

Birds

1​

U

unknown

present

unknown

unknown

iObs

Achterhaven - CTO (CTO)

51.317.331​

3.203.555​

13-5-2024​

West-Vlaanderen

Belgium

3​

O

True

False

0​

False

False

Kwartel - Coturnix coturnix 1 ter plaatse 2024-05-13 Achterhaven - CTO (CTO) (WV) waarnemingen.be

309365109​

13-5-2024​

10:25:00​

2024-05-13 15:10:58.178530

Common Linnet

Linaria cannabina

Finches, Euphonias (Fringillidae)

Species

Birds

1​

U

unknown

present

unknown

unknown

iObs

Achterhaven - CTO (CTO)

51.320.842​

3.205.222​

13-5-2024​

West-Vlaanderen

Belgium

Automatic validation

4​

A

True

False

0​

False

False

Kneu - Linaria cannabina 1 ter plaatse 2024-05-13 Achterhaven - CTO (CTO) (WV) waarnemingen.be

309365112​

13-5-2024​

10:31:00​

2024-05-13 15:10:58.668284

Common Tern

Sterna hirundo

Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Species

Birds

1​

U

unknown

present

unknown

unknown

iObs

Achterhaven - CTO (CTO)

51.321.231​

3.205.828​

13-5-2024​

West-Vlaanderen

Belgium

Automatic validation

3​

A

True

False

0​

False

False

Visdief - Sterna hirundo 1 ter plaatse 2024-05-13 Achterhaven - CTO (CTO) (WV) waarnemingen.be

309994761​

17-5-2024​

11:34:00​

2024-05-17 17:51:21.104347

Black Kite

Milvus migrans

Kites, Hawks, Eagles (Accipitridae)

Species

Birds

1​

U

unknown

present

unknown

unknown

copied observation

Mazy

50.512.312​

4.660.624​

17-5-2024​

Namur

Belgium

3​

redelijk ver, boven snelweg. Van dichterbij gezien door Robin Gailly.

O

not applicable

True

False

0​

False

False

Zwarte Wouw - Milvus migrans 1 ter plaatse 2024-05-17 Mazy (NA) waarnemingen.be

 

[njlarsen]

This is a comment for the original poster, and not an attempt to start a discussion of what is right or wrong.
Please be aware that there are two fundamentally different ways to approach listing. One is to have each observation independently and the other is to have the fundamental unit be a list of species observed within a given area. Some of the resources mentioned here I believe are better suited for one approach and others for the other.

I personally like the list for a location and period approach, which at least Ebird and probably some others in the online versions do, and which Scythebill works well with.
In my first post to you I forgot to mention that Scythebill imports and exports data in formats to e.g., Ebird, so it does not have to be either local or online, it can be both.

Niels

 

[Waxwing007]

Good Evening All

Firstly I would to thank all of you that have replied to my request for computer software to keep all my bird sightings/loggings.

I use to do a lot of birding (all in the U.K) in the 90s and early 00s and had some software then which i think it was called Birding Database (?). which was very simple to use. I could put in the sightings for the day by reserve etc, I could produce a Year List, Life List and by County or site and print off what ever I required.

I have now, since retired, got back into the hobby. I cannot find my original software and so hence the request. Now that I have a bit of time, I would like to put all my paper files and those that were printed off from the original software onto a new programme (which will be fun, lol).

So my follow up request is: which of the ones mentioned in the replies would accommodate what I require and is easy to use for a silver surfer?

Thank you all again for your help

Kindest regards

Steve

 

[delia todd]

I do find Scythebill easy to use and you can get all those reports. When it does an update it will amend your records (or you can do it yourself if you prefer) to take account of the changes in taxonomy that have happened since the previous version.

Quite a few members here use it so you're never alone and Adam, the owner, answers promptly if you've a problem.

 

[SteveClark]

Another vote for Scythebill. It will do all you want and more.

 

[Butty]

a program that keeps the data on your own PC: Scythebill

But... unless I'm missing something, there's no way of using that directly on any phone/tablet - yes? The (yukky/poor) workaround would be to input a visit to (e.g.) eBird on mobile, and later export from there and import to Scythebill - presumably?
There's also

iGoTerra

The wildlife network to learn, experience and share

igoterra.com

which is web-based and costs money.

 

[njlarsen]

But... unless I'm missing something, there's no way of using that directly on any phone/tablet - yes? The (yukky/poor) workaround would be to input a visit to (e.g.) eBird on mobile, and later export from there and import to Scythebill - presumably?

That is indeed what I am doing. Export from eBird comes in with intervals, for example when I want to see my total in IOC taxonomy. There are also some reports in scythebill that I like and don’t see as easily in eBird online.

There is also the possibility that someone is using an old fashioned notebook instead of an App 😎

 

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

All my local county/regional recorders use the BTO's BirdTrack, some exclusively, so I use that.

 

[awiner]

That is indeed what I am doing. Export from eBird comes in with intervals, for example when I want to see my total in IOC taxonomy. There are also some reports in scythebill that I like and don’t see as easily in eBird online.

There is also the possibility that someone is using an old fashioned notebook instead of an App 😎

Yeah, this is absolutely what I do as well, though when I'm traveling internationally I most often still use an old-fashioned, written checklist in the evening. I've got no plans to add a Scythebill mobile app for data entry for a bunch of reasons (time, expertise, expense), and there's a lot of very good apps out there whose functionality I'd be hard-pressed to duplicate.

Something I care deeply about for Scythebill is making sure it can - as much as possible - read data from any app and export it to any app (though the app has to have a data format that makes this possible). I think it's critical that birders have access to their sightings for a lifetime, and don't lose data just because an app shuts down.

Perhaps helpful here: you don't have to download each eBird checklist and tediously import one-by-one. Every once in awhile, visit Sign in, grab the whole dataset, and import that. Scythebill will automatically import sightings for days where it doesn't have any existing data, so there's no duplicates. There's actually more data in that format than in the individual checklist format.

 

[SteveClark]

I log birds with the Birdlasser app, export to Scythebill and then export to eBird (not everything). BirdLasser records the location data for each logged bird. eBird doesn't do this for some reason. Otherwise I'm an eBird fan (and a reviewer). Scythebill is an amazing tool.

 

[awiner]

I log birds with the Birdlasser app, export to Scythebill and then export to eBird (not everything). BirdLasser records the location data for each logged bird. eBird doesn't do this for some reason. Otherwise I'm an eBird fan (and a reviewer). Scythebill is an amazing tool.

Steve - speaking of BirdLasser, the latest Scythebill (16.4.0, just released yesterday) should be much less annoying at processing a large number of new locations when doing a big BirdLasser import.

 

[temmie]

This is a comment for the original poster, and not an attempt to start a discussion of what is right or wrong.
Please be aware that there are two fundamentally different ways to approach listing. One is to have each observation independently and the other is to have the fundamental unit be a list of species observed within a given area. Some of the resources mentioned here I believe are better suited for one approach and others for the other.

I couldn't disagree more, Niels.

There is only one fundamental way of listing: have each and every observation with time and GPS (*).

Every other way is merely a derivative / clustering / omission of information compared to the fundamental way of listing:

1. You can make any list (in a certain time range and / or area, be it a line or polygon) from that fundamental list, e.g. an ebird list.
2. But you cannot, and never, decompose an ebird list into individual observations with time / location attached, unless you have entered them in the fundamental way I described above.

The current state of technology makes it very easy to cluster info (in a certain time frame / area) into something that looks like an ebird list, so it's always better to have a fundamental list to start from and extracting any statistics with regards to e.g. hotspots (species (not) seen, bar charts, filters on month,...) can still be made, based on fundamental listing.
But you'll never be retrieve the fundamental info the other way around.

(*) I fully realize anyone GPS is discutable / also still flawed in terms of the position the bird is, or your own position, but it's much, much better than clustering data around a point that is often not even reachable or doesn't hold any of the birds seen, e.g. a hotspot / entrance of a reserve.