Another great question, Al! I began my adult birding in MN by focusing on my State list, aiming for how many species per year I could see. In pursuing a big state list every year since 2002 I've realized getting over 200 species in a year involves quite a bit of travel (and time) as Minnesota is not a small state. Since I am of limited means (and time), I was considering new ways of enjoying the birds this year.
Last year, I finally decided to get Avisys (birding software) and as a lister I have to say it was one of the best decisions I ever made. After transferring all my data into the program (which was quite a task for about 10 yrs worth of listing - mercy on those who have even more!) I can finally make sense of all the piles of trip lists I've created over the years in about 1 second, literally - And now I actually know how many Lifers I have (I didn't before Avisys), a humble 324 (from 4 states). Now County listing is so easy this year I have begun to really key in on it. My goal this year is to beef up my Metro county lists, in Ramsey, Anoka, Washington and Scott Counties. So I guess this year the answer is "county bird" for me. -- Sincerely, Jim Ryan Saint Paul's Westside ---- "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community" - Aldo Leopold "Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises." - Samuel Butler ---- PS: It's hard to say enough good things about Avisys. Your ability to come up with a list is only limited by the data you put in. And uploading your info to the MOU website is very easy and gratifying - all those cools maps customized for *your* data and your own personalized county checklists is great. As you can tell, I highly recommend getting it if you are at all serious about your 'listing', World, State, County or whatever. (I wish I was paid for this endorsement!) On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 4:22 PM, Pastor Al Schirmacher < pasto...@princetonfreechurch.net> wrote: > Occasionally one's mind wanders at work (studying for the Easter message, > hope it doesn't wander too much). > > At one point in my birding "career", I was most interested in life birds. > Then, for many years, it became state birds (Wisconsin, then Minnesota). > > Now I find myself more conscious of county birds than either life or state. > > Which leads to my question (probably for listers only): would you rather > have a life bird, state bird or county bird (or some other kind of list)? > > Thanks! > > Al Schirmacher > Princeton, MN > Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
