This is my first year listing my birds and I am about ready to reorganize my list for 06. I didn't know very much about it when I started and just started listing. I have seen some of the questions on this forum and would like to maintain a data base so that I could generate relevant reports. I thought I should set some goals and get advice.
My goals for my list:
1. Gain population and species data on my regular local patches.
2. Expand my range of ids of US birds both by sound and sight.
3. Be able to focus on different groups like sparrows, ducks etc.
4. Be able to generate reports for the "Fun" of it. Example: Birds seen from a restaurant (That thread was a real hoot!) Birds seen while riding my horse etc.
My Tools: Excel-I don't want to spend more money on fancy programs. I could use Access but I have heard so many just say to use Excel. (I would rather use the money to buy a scope.)
Fields for each record (bird sighting) included thus far:
1. month 2 year 3. category (sparrow vireo etc) 4. name 5. Location 6 Unit type (nature center, national park or residence etc.) 7. Patch (Vacation, local, track meet etc.)8. State 9 habitat 10 Picture 11 song ID 12 duplicate (Life sightings)
What advice can you give me on the types of fields for my list? Should I add something?