The Life List. Most serious birders compile a Life List.
It's a list of all the bird species they've identified with absolute certainty during their whole lifetime of serious birding. Being "serious" implies knowing about look-alike species and subspecies, the various plumage states, and having a systematic-enough mind to not be sloppy and haphazard when it comes to making the lists. Life Lists are extremely important to many birders. Wherever particularly interesting birds congregate, you can bet that birders will be there "searching for the rare ones" to add to their Life Lists. Expensive cruises to the Antarctica and river trips to isolated regions of the Amazon are staged just for people hoping to add new birds to their Life List. If you should start your own Life List right now, and for some reason during the rest of your life you never travel beyond your neighborhood, you might well end up listing a hundred species or more -- many species being spotted during migration.
Life Lists are fun! Bird Watching Life Lists - Keeping A Record. A bird life list can enhance the birdwatching experience.
Author Rick Chapo discusses the types of entries and methods for keeping life list of the birds you see. Author: Rick Chapo If you're a birder, you want to keep a list of sightings when you bird watch. Your life lists should be kept in a bird watching journal. A bird life list is a record of the species of birds you've sighted over time. Depending on your particular bird watching exploits, you can keep one global list or separate lists as you see fit.
For many bird watchers, one life list simply isn't enough. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Computer Life Lists You can purchase computer life list programs or use online variations. You enter information and the program spits out your list. The problem with using computer programs is well, the computer aspect. Using a computer program is also troublesome if you want to keep a collection of sketches of particular species you've identified. Bird watching is an extremely personal passion. Bird Names List - Your Birding Life List. Many bird watchers and backyard birders enjoy keeping a bird names list.
The list might be of the wild birds they have seen in their own backyard or they may keep a life list, which are all the birds they have seen since they started bird watching. Keeping a bird names list is a wonderful way to enhance both the educational and the pleasurable aspects of bird watching. It is also fun to look back in your notes and remember where you were when you had a special sighting, for example, your first bald eagle. Keeping records of bird sightings can also reveal patterns of occurrence and activity. There are three ways to keep track of your encounters with birds: The one you choose is up to you.
Checklist: A checklist can be as simple as you like. Most bird field guides will include a bird names list, which could be used as a checklist. Bird List: As a birder you may want to go beyond a simple checklist. Here are a few examples of lists that you may want to keep: Birding Journal: