[Birding-Aus] New Database
Roaminoz Crew
Hi
Brand new to this list today.
I'm wondering if anyone has heard of and/or used the database as put out by Bluebird Technology.
I am thinking of purchasing the above but would like to know any thoughts on the program by those who may have used it.
There is a free trial download at http://www.bluebirdtechnology.com/
Jude
_________________________________________________________________
Looking for a date? View photos of singles in your area!
http://clk.atdmt.com/NMN/go/150855801/direct/01/www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au
Russell Woodford
I'll reply to you privately in more detail, but here's a quick reply
for everyone on the mailing list.
Firstly, the topic of birding databases has been covered a number of
times. Search the archives for "database"
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/birding-aus/
Secondly, there are a few very important questions to ask about any
bird database you might be considering:
Is it customisable for the main country you'll be observing in? i.e.
does it follow an accepted taxonomy, and use the local English names?
If there are images and/or audio, are they available for local species?
How simple is it to get your records into the database? I've used some
databases that present you with a full world list that you have to
narrow down to get the one species you want to enter - data entry
should be quick and not need much typing.
How easy is it to export the records to another database, or online
repository (e.g. BA Atlas, or Eremaea)? THere isn't much point pocking
up your data in a proprietary format that doesn't export easily.
Will it run on your current operating system, and will it be compliant
with likely upgrades, such as Windows 7 or Mac Snow Leopard?
Is it easy to backup records, and can your whole database be archived
easily? Will you need extra storage capacity?
At the moment the number of birding databases is threatening to catch
up to the number of birders! Some of these questions might help you
narrow down the choices.
Good luck!
Russell
Russell Woodford
Birding-Aus List Owner
rus...@birding-aus.org
Geelong Victoria Australia
http://www.birding-aus.org
On 25/11/2009, at 12:12 PM, Roaminoz Crew wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi
>
> Brand new to this list today.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone has heard of and/or used the database as put
> out by Bluebird Technology.
>
>
>
> I am thinking of purchasing the above but would like to know any
> thoughts on the program by those who may have used it.
>
>
>
> There is a free trial download at http://www.bluebirdtechnology.com/
>
>
>
> Jude
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Looking for a date? View photos of singles in your area!
> http://clk.atdmt.com/NMN/go/150855801/direct/01/==============================www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au
> ==============================
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au
===============================
Katrina Knight
>I'm wondering if anyone has heard of and/or used the database
>as put out by Bluebird Technology.
I've played with the trial version. I like it for the most part.
The trial version doesn't allow many entries, so I tested by
entering data for a couple days at home and a couple days from
my trip to Australia earlier this year. A lot of birding
databases fall down to varying degrees when asked to deal with
foreign trips. This one seems to handle that relatively well as
long as you set the default authority to "the World (Clements)".
If you set the default to something else, some of the summaries
only end up including the species on that particular list. Even
if you set the default to the world list though, you can still
use whichever authority you like for your actual entries. In my
testing, I used Christidis & Boles. for the Australian entries
and the ABA for the US ones. The database is smart enough to
deal with species whose names are different in different places.
It knows that a "European Starling" in the US is the same
species as a "Common Starling" in Australia.
Some of the things I like about this database include
hierarchical locations, ease of entry, the ability to attach
pictures to the entries and the ability to export data as a csv
file. It also has the ability to export to eBird, which is an
online database commonly used in North America, but not to other
the various other online databases.
There were two things that looked like I'd like them but that I
had problems with during my testing. The database supposedly has
the ability to add additional data fields both to the entries
and to the individual species data within the entries. I got
that to work for the entries as a whole without a problem. I
could add the additional fields for the individual sightings
within the entry, but I couldn't make those or the other
optional fields show on the screen in my test database. The
optional fields did show when I looked at the same database that
came with the trial version, so I may have missed something
there. My other issue was with the supposed ability to include
subspecies data. Choosing subspecies works well when using
Clements as the authority but doesn't seem to work using the ABA
list and isn't even available as an option with the C&B list. I
prefer to keep subspecies data where possible, but using the
Clements list for entries is cumbersome.
I don't like the inability to adjust the species within the
selected authority and if I'm going to pay for a database
program, I'd really like it to be able to record my non-bird
sightings as well. I also don't like not being able to choose
species by their Latin names. That's not something I'd want to
do a lot of, but sometimes it is hard to remember what the
"correct" common name for a bird is in a given place. I also
don't see any way to import data from any other database. It
does look like allowing the entry of other wildlife and
importing are two of the things they intend to add soon, so some
of these concerns may be dealt with in the next version.
--
Katrina Knight
kkn...@fastmail.fm
Reading, PA, USA
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au
===============================
mebalestri
updates, fix bugs, etc.
--
Marcia Balestri
Frederick, MD, USA
mebal...@comcast.net
Peter Shute
While there are some disadvantages to using one of these compared to your own, one advantage is that your sighting can be made available to others. They can be a valuable resource for planning trips, etc.
Some local examples of these are Eremaea and Birdpedia, both of which can forward data to the Birds Australia Atlas database.
Here's a link to a similar discussion on this list, but there are more, it comes up several times a year:
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/birding-aus/2008-10/msg00168.html
Peter Shute
--------------------------
Sent using BlackBerry
----- Original Message -----
From: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au <birding-a...@vicnet.net.au>
To: birdi...@vicnet.net.au <birdi...@vicnet.net.au>
Sent: Wed Nov 25 12:12:37 2009
Subject: [Birding-Aus] New Database
Hi
Brand new to this list today.
I'm wondering if anyone has heard of and/or used the database as put out by Bluebird Technology.
I am thinking of purchasing the above but would like to know any thoughts on the program by those who may have used it.
There is a free trial download at http://www.bluebirdtechnology.com/
Jude
_________________________________________________________________
Looking for a date? View photos of singles in your area!
Dave Torr
Pro - you share the data with others
- it is probably (I hope) backed up more regularly than most people back up
their own PCs
- you don't have to worry about installing updates etc
Cons - you need to be online
- if the service ever disappears (and these things do happen) you could lose
your data (although I know that Eremaea has plans to cover this eventuality)
- so pick a service where you can regularly download all your records to
your own PC just for peace of mind.
2009/11/26 Peter Shute <psh...@nuw.org.au>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au
> ===============================
>
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: birding-a...@vicnet.net.au
===============================