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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Larry Lade" data-source="post: 3337257" data-attributes="member: 2676">I enjoy keeping lists and have been doing so since about 1990. Going back and checking through them I can see definite trends for the various bird species in my areas. For example, years ago I could count on seeing a Loggerhead Shrike on just about any day I went out birding. Sometimes I would see multiples. I even discovered a nest with young one year. Today I will not see a Loggerhead Shrike when I go out birding. They seem to have been extirpated from the areas where I used to see them. This is, of course, a sad situation, but it lets me know how various bird species are getting on. I also find it useful to see when certain migratory birds arrive/leave the areas I bird. Again, for example, I find when the Chimney Swifts leave is about the same time the Dark-eyed Juncos arrive in the fall, and visa-versa in the spring. I just like to compare year lists from year to year, seeing which new birds I have seen and some of the birds which I missed. It is also fun for me to see if I can see more birds this year than I saw last year (and things like that).Just do whatever you wish and enjoy what you decide to do!</blockquote>