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Post by Psamathe on Jun 5, 2020 11:42:54 GMT
Something I don't do but often think I'd like to but for all wildlife, not just limited groups e.g. birds.
Apps I've found all seem to fall very short of what I'd find useful. Some are more open logging which publish your observations mapped and online; I'm very private on the internet and having load of observations clustered around a single rural location is in effect publishing your address online (and e.g. recording switching to an overseas location identifies your house as un-occupied, etc.)
Other apps can only identify birds or limited ranges of species of limited species on specific continent or will not geo-locate beyond a free text location name, etc., etc. Every-time I look into possible apps I end-up not bothering and don't record.
Do others bother about observation logging and anybody using apps for recording?
Ian
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Post by Tringa on Jun 10, 2020 13:09:50 GMT
I don't log things I have seen when I'm out. I mentally note them but in a limited way(eg I'd note seeing a flock of starlings but would not attempt to count them).
As you want to limit details of your location on the Web, and I can understand that, would going old school and recording observations in a notebook work for you? Though you would need to transcribe the info later.
If you just wanted a means of recording digitally what you have seen would something like a note taking app be any use?
I have a free one called Notepad on my Android phone. It isn't sophisticated at all - you can name a list and then add whatever you want to the list and save it but that is all. However, again it would need transcribing and you'd have to add the location manually.
Sorry I don't think this has helped at all.
Hope you find what you want.
Dave
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Post by kentyeti on Jul 21, 2020 16:56:44 GMT
My field notes have been, and still are, critical to my more than nine years of intensive study of Short-eared Owls. They are the foundation on which my now just about completed book on the species has been written.
I write all my notes down in Black n' Red A5 hardbacked notes books. In red biro, a partial family tradition for note taking! So far, my Short-eared Owl study has filled over 3,500 pages of those note books.
When I have time, I type them up in full at home. Then sumarise them into a sort of standard format. Which I subdivide on my PC into areas and specific locations as appropriate.
I will not use digital technology to write my original notes. I have large, clumsy fingers and so do not use an I-phone, despite regular presure from my grown up daughters!
As my field notes are critical to my study, writing them has to be 100% reliable. No battery to run out, no deleting in error, and I can write very fast when time allows, way, way faster than I an ever type.
The vast majority of my field notes are taken at night, and I can scribble them in minimal car lighting; sometimes, using large writing in almost total darkness. Often alternating between thermal imager and note book/pen.
My note books are not that tidy. After a partcularly busy owl encounter when I have been watching, listening and scribbling, I will use the next quiet spell in the night to re-write them on the next page(s) while my memory helps to fill in extra bits.
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Post by accipiter on Jul 21, 2020 21:42:20 GMT
I’m old school Ian, consequently I don’t use electronic trickery in any form I merely use note books and have since 1957 up to the present day, I then transfer the notes to print printed on A 4 100 gm paper placed in cellophane sleeves held in folders. Each folder is then marked with the year and subject / topic e.g. bird species and behaviour albeit just Sparrowhawk, common buzzard, Kestrel, little owl, and covids, e.g. Carrion crow, Rook, jackdaw, Jay, and Magpie.
I’ve then turned the information kept in separt folders into an biography adventure, included those I met along the way, not to mention the vehicles I’ve literally worn out replacing parts and even whole engines during my travels throughout British Isles. Needless to say I don’t trust modern technology since hard drives, memory sticks etc. can become corrupted, if this was to happen I would lose a life time of work.
Alan
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