My "life List" is photos only. Comments on my progress and organization? (1 Viewer)

[crazyfingers]

I am not into lots of lists. I keep one "life list" and I only count a bird if I have taken an identifiable photo to go with it.

So far up to 94 species and I started in earnest in around 2010-2011~ish.

It's US Northeast only.

How am I doing and this is how it's organized. It's in PowerPoint with one page per species.

Songbirds
Black-Throated Green Warbler
Myrtle Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Dickcissel
American Goldfinch
Black Capped Chickadee
Dark Eyed Junko
Chipping Sparrow
White-Throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
House Sparrow
Nuthatch
Eastern Phoebe
Carolina Wren
Tufted Titmouse
House Finch
Great Crested Flycatcher
Tree Swallow
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Kingbird
Cedar Waxwing
Baltimore Oriole
Eastern Towhee
American Robin
Northern Cardinal
Northern Mockingbird
Redwing Blackbird
Brown Headed Cowbird
Common Grackle

Birds of Prey
Merlin
Sharp Shinned Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Red Tail Hawk
Coopers Hawk
Osprey
Bald Eagle

Water Birds - Plungers, divers, waders, floaters
Belted Kingfisher
Least Sandpiper
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Pectoral Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Black Guillemot
Common Goldeneye
Ring-Neck Duck
Bufflehead
American Black Ducks
Wood Duck
Mallard Duck
American Coot
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Red-necked Grebe
Horned Grebe
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Common Eider
Common Loon
Caspian Tern
Arctic Tern
Bonaparte’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring Bill Gull
Herring Gull
Double-Crested Cormorant
Northern Gannet
Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Trumpeter Swans
Mute Swan

Woodpeckers
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker

Misc Birds
Ruby Throated Hummingbird
Chimney Swift
European Starling
Blue Jay
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
American Crow
Turkey Vulture (Buzzard)
Wild Turkey

 

[Paul Tavares]

I am not into lots of lists. I keep one "life list" and I only count a bird if I have taken an identifiable photo to go with it.

I started a photo life list in 2003 when I got my first digital camera. It's been and still is great fun. One of the problems I encountered very early on was keeping the birds organized. Once you have over 50 species it's very tedious to manually sort them. I developed a numbering system for the species that automatically sorts them into the proper order. This doesn't have to be complicated. A series of numbers with gaps for insertions or taxonomy changes will do. Mine is a little more complete as I have numbered all 10000+ birds using the IOC list as a starting point. I update the numbering twice a year to reflect any taxa changes.

I also found Picasa a useful tool. It allows you to view the images as thumbnails and as a large image. Picasa is free and also allows you to upload your collection for private or public view. You can also try flicker. These may be better than using PowerPoint.

I've recently posted my 2013 photo life list activity on this thread if you want to check it out for more ideas. http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=273727

Good luck
Paul
Photo life list http://paultavares.smugmug.com/Wildlife/Birds/MyBirds