I have been using Excel since I started birding. I used Excel since I had it and at the time there weren't any birding programs for the Macintosh. I also wanted to format the printouts the way I wanted, not some software developer. I use a format that has the date I saw the bird and the location. I then use the function COUNT on the "date" column which counts the cells that have numbers in them. I have separate lists for each county, each state and the ABA regions. I also have year lists and month lists. Excel can be cool in that I can do statistics and print out charts.
That being said there are some drawbacks. When the ABA moves the order of the species around, which happens a lot (insert sarcastic comment about them not having anything better to do) or when MOURC updates the Regular-Casual-Accidental designation every 5 years, I have to update all those lists. It's a lot of work. Unless you really want to control the output, or are a computer geek like me, I would suggest using one of the commercial programs. Rick Hoyme -----Original Message----- From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:mou-...@lists.umn.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Hendrickson Sent: Saturday, December 25, 2010 12:22 AM To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: [mou-net] Making a Bird List Question Hello: I am I just downloaded a complete list of birds of United States into Excel. I was wondering if anyone knows how to create a list on excel so that if I add a "X" or color in that cell next to that bird species there will be a number telling me how many birds I seen for United States, Minnesota and St. Louis County. I created columns for each of those items. I am a little puzzled on how to the rest. I know there are birders who created their own excel bird lists and I would be interested in hearing from those that have done so and if they can give me some help to create the list. I know it would easier to buy some bird listing program but I rather not or use some external listing program out there but I prefer to learn to use excel in creating bird lists. Thanks so much Merry Christmas to all Mike Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota Website: http://www.mikehendricksonbirding.com Blog: http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/ ---- 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
