World Bird Sightings Software - Summary

[Frank O'Connor <>]

Thank you to those who replied to my request for information.  There
are quite a few others with similar needs.  Here is a quick summary
of what I have found.

There are a number of web sites where bird sightings can be recorded
online.  As far as I could ascertain, they are all free to
use.  These include :

Avibase
http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/avibase.jsp

This is designed by Denis Lepage and is hosted by Bird Studies Canada, a
partner of Birdlife International.  It certainly looks like it is
designed for all the birds of the world.  It has checklists for many
places around the world.  It looks like a very good site if you are
only interested in recording your bird sightings.  It has 6
taxonomies that you can choose from including IOC, Clements, Howard &
Moore and Sibley & Monroe.  I would strongly recommend that you
visit this site if you are heading overseas, and print out a checklist of
the area you are visiting.  It also has lists for many Australian
sites.  Doesn't seem to have any facility for mammals,
etc.

eBird
http://www.ebird.com

This is maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the US.  It seems to be mostly US centred, and it only records birds as far as I can tell.  I assume that it uses Clements 6 as they now maintain that list.  Has no facility for mammals, etc.  I couldn't find mention of it on their web site, but the person who told me of the product says that it won't cover Australia until 2010.  But he said it "was undoubtedly the best birding software", and so this is a product to keep an eye on.  As you will see below, several products provide a means of sharing the data with EBird.

Global Twitcher http://www.globaltwitcher.com 

This can be used to record sightings of birds, animals, plants, anything.  This is very extensive.  Not certain which taxonomy is used for birds.  It has the sub species.  You can print out checklists of places.  I haven't checked this out exhaustively, but it looks like a viable option.  Worth considering.

Birdstack http://birdstack.com/

 This uses the IOC 2.1 checklist.  The web site is confusing about how to use it, but it does look like an option.  It allows you to share your data with eBird.  Has no facility for mammals, etc.


Eremaea Birds http://www.eremaea.com/

 This is an Australian web site.  Many of you probably use to check the state birdlines.  It does have overseas sites as well.  It uses Clements.  I don't find it intuitive to use, but that would probably improve as you get to know it.  Has no facility for mammals, etc.


One person has written their own database using the IOC checklist.


However, my main interest was for a database to record my sightings on my PC.  I have found details of a few packages.  They are World Bird Plus, BirdBase, Birdinfo and Wildlife Recorder.

BirdBase http://birdbase.com/index.html

They claim this is the most used software in the US for birders with more than 1400 species worldwide.  It does let you print checklists for an area you are going to visit, marking those you have seen and those that are endemic.  It has options to add on mammals and butterflies.  This also allows you to share your data with eBird.  They use Clements 6.  If this is the taxonomy you prefer, then this would probably be worth considering.  The cost is US$100, but you would probably need to add US$30 for the sub species plus US$45 for the mammals.  Plus US$12 delivery costs.  The butterflies would cost an extra US$85, and then you would need to load the Australian species list, so this is not really practical.

Birdinfo 

This is an Australian product.  Several people said they use it for their Australian bird sightings, and a couple use it for their world list.  No information on the web.  You are referred to Simon Bennett and his email   The people who use describe it as excellent.  It has the Clements 2000 taxonomy as an option, but he now only maintains the Australian list (C&B2008). It does have the facility to print checklists for countries and areas, and allows you to modify them.  It does allow you to record Australian records of mammals, reptiles, butterflies, etc.  It seems that this would be the best product for Australian sightings, but not for world sightings, especially as time goes on.


World Bird Plus

I have found it very hard to find information about this product, other than that it exists (at least in August 2008).  It seems that John Penhallurick maintains it.  He is Australian (often posts to this list).  It didn't seem to be able to handle mammals, so I didn't follow this up further.


Wildlife Recorder (Basic & Professional) http://www.wildlife.co.uk/birding_software/Default.htm

 One person recommended this UK product.  It comes with world birds and mammals.  You choose from a list of taxonomies including IOC, and can easily switch between them.  It is more expensive at GBP100 plus GDP3.50 delivery for the Professional version which most suits my needs.  This also gives me the option of defining my Australian reptiles, frog, butterfly and orchids.  I could do this, but they said if I supplied them with the electronic lists then they would do it.  I am impressed by the web site.  I am very impressed with their response to an email I sent them.  Within two hours they replied with relevant answers to all questions.  It has an option of speech recognition, but I am don't plan to go for this.  It has a Pocket Recorder interface for use on mobile phones or at least PDAs.  It allows you to print checklists of areas that you will be visiting, with details of what you have already seen.  It sends output to the printer, or as HTML, or as a PDF file or as an RTF file that can be imported into Word.  It also has a facility to share data with eBird.  Taxonomic and program updates cost GBP15 per year after the first 12 months.


At this stage, I plan to purchase Wildlife Recorder Professional.  It seems to be the best fit for my needs, and it gives me confidence that it will be supported and improved in the future.  I suspect that it might be a little harder to use initially, as it seems to have a lot of "bells and whistles".  But I plan to wait a short while longer for further information.  So if anyone has anything extra to add, then please let me know.

World Bird Sightings Software

from [Frank O'Connor] [Permanent Link][Original]
To: m("vicnet.net.au","birding-aus");">
Subject: World Bird Sightings Software
From: Frank O'Connor < m("iinet.net.au","foconnor");">>
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:03:44 +0800

I have reached the point where I want to collate my world list. I am looking for the best software to use to do this.

I thought that this was covered fairly well a while ago on birding-aus, but I can't find the postings through Google or the archives. There is mention of World Bird Plus and Birdinfo. I have Googled these but not found a lot of information other than where to purchase them.

I have the following requirements :

1. To keep my world bird (and hopefully mammal) records. Also if possible my Australian reptile, frog and butterfly records.

2. Taxonomy. I currently lean towards using the IOC (International Ornithological Congress) checklist as published in Birds of The World Recommended English Names by Frank Gill and Minturn Wright in 2006. The book includes a CD with an Excel spreadsheet. They have a web site which has the updates. I also have Clements 6th edition, but this taxonomy varies more from the Australian list.

3. I would like to record each state and territory for Australia. Elsewhere in the world it would not be important to sub divide countries.

4. I would need to record sightings of Introduced species, as I would count them on my country or state list, but not my world list. I understand that some software caters for this.

5. I understand that some software can print bird lists for an area before you visit, making it much easier to determine what species would be new and which I would have seen before. However, most trips that I go on have bird lists for each day, or I can get a list from various web sites such as Avibase, Surfbirds, etc. But I would need to go through and mark what I have seen previously.

So I would be grateful if the birding-aus community could recommend the best solution.

1. What programs are out there?

2. What taxonomies can be used by each of them?

3. How are taxonomic updates handled?

4. Do they handle mammals, etc?

5. Do they flag Introduced species?

6. Do they allow State & Territory lists which would be combined into a country list?

Any other factors that are important.

_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor           Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694              Email :

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