User-defined Data

In Birder’s Diary you can define and save unlimited amount of data with each Sighting. The sighting is the fundamental element in Birder’s Diary defining the thing seen, where seen, when seen and by which observers. A sighting can also contain unlimited comments, a user-defined trip, and the min and max counts of the number of things sighted.

In addition to this, you can define an unlimited set of other named data items to record (or not) for each sighting you enter. These data elements you create and define can be of the following types of information:

• Yes/No (e.g. Checkbox) type of information. For example, ‘Heard’. This type is the one most often used.
• Text. Any random text you wish to record, for example ‘folks present during this sighting’.
• Integer or Floating Point number. For example, ‘temperature during sighting’.
• Date/Time or just Date or Time. For example, ‘when I heard of this species being found’.
• List – this is a user-defined list of options to choose from. For example, you may define a List type of ‘Plumage’ and then set the available options for your choices that will be present in a drop-down list when entering data, e.g. ‘juvenal, basic, alternate’, and so on. A list helps you make sure you are consistent with what data you store for this user-defined data.

And remember, you can have an unlimited number of these. Some examples are:

• Seen on TV (keep your own TV list)
• Dead
• Photo
• Call Heard
• Song Heard
• Nest
• Nest w/eggs
• Recording
• Video

On Yes/No data types, you can also set a flag which indicates that these sightings should not be considered when counting life list counts or reports. This would be valid for example on “Seen on TV” sightings.