Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2003 14:59:23 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Sam Smith Subject: Re: RFI: Birding with a PDA (follow-up) In-Reply-To: <000d01c3bb56$3575ccc0$0701a8c0@Janet> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit It did seem somewhat unfair to make the general conclusion that paper is the best way to go for listing when your original question asked for solutions other than Avisys which is arguably the best and most widely used solution. I have found using Avisys on my home computer combined with the PDA module in the field to be far superior to paper for listing. I've used a lot of software programs over the years and would place the 2 Avisys programs toward the top of my software favorites list. I would have to agree that software for identification rather than listing, (Avisys is primarily for listing) does not exist at the moment for PDA's. It has only been within the last 1-2 years that the computing power and memory capacity has increased enough to allow something of that nature on PDA's. Nonetheless, it is a fairly simple matter if you are familiar enough with the technology to transfer play lists of bird calls from CD's or tapes to PDA's. I've known folks with calls from hundreds of species on their PDA's. This can be very helpful with identification in the field. For bird calls the advantage of a PDA over a Ipod or MP3 player is that you can have your listing software, bird calls, RBA phone numbers, etc all on one device. Good birding, JK Arlington, VA -----Original Message----- From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:MDOSPREY.at.HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM@vabirding.at.bkmlk.com] On Behalf Of Janet Millenson Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 12:36 PM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: [MDOSPREY] RFI: Birding with a PDA (follow-up) Thanks to those who responded to my request for information on birding software for PDAs. The advice fell into three categories: (1) birding software the person had tried and didn't like; (2) birding software they knew about but had never tried; and (3) non-birding software that could be adapted for birding. My conclusion is pretty much what Elliot Kirschbaum wrote: in the field, it's probably best to continue recording things on paper. Regarding software for identification rather than listing, the National Wildlife Federation sells a PDA field guide called "Familiar Birds of Maryland." It only includes 94 species (well, it does say "familiar birds") but apparently includes audio, which might be helpful when atlasing season rolls around again. They also sell one called "Common Birds of Prey of Maryland," with 24 species (presumably includes owls as well as hawks). As before, if anyone has actually seen or used this software, please share your opinion. Thanks. Janet Millenson Potomac, MD (Montgomery County) janet@twocrows.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- "Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================