Hello Everyone:

I am excited about a new feature available in release 3.6.

This new feature will allow the world-wide community of Diary users (it is in use in over 26 countries and every continent!) to retrieve and import updated bird-location information into Birder's Diary as well as share updated information with other users! Indeed, Birder's Diary could become the most accurate repository of bird-location information in the World!

The Problem?
Birds and other animals seldom stay put. They don't pay attention to maps and often expand and shrink ranges without telling leading authorities or researchers! Couple that with the fact that Clements' world taxonomic list alone recognizes 9905 species of birds and over 30 thousand species+subspecies, and the task of maintaining even moderately accurate information on which locations might contain which species simply becomes untenable.

The Solution!
Now users can modify Diary checklist data (the data that ties a thing in Birder's Diary to a location, for example, a Steller's Jay to Colorado) using the Checklist Editor (Advanced User license required) for areas of their expertise.

For example, if you are a New Zealand birder you may find that the checklist data for New Zealand is out of date. You can update that data easily using the Checklist Editor, and then export it using the Export function.

For another example, perhaps you are a researcher compiling specific information on a species or family of animals. You could update the location information for just that species and/or family and then export it.

In each example, you would post a new Thread in this forum announcing the available data (birds of Ecuador, reptiles of North America, Hummingbirds of the world, Evening Grosbeaks, birds of Teller County, Colorado) and then attach your export/import file! Diary users from around the world could download and import the updated information and together we could all help maintain the most accurate repository of bird-location information in the World!

You don't have to be an expert to join in. Everyone has specific knowledge of some sort in this area. Perhaps you only have an update or two for your county or state. Please make the update and share it with all Diary users. Eventually, through repetition and use the data will get more and more accurate to the point that it becomes more precise than any other database in the World!

Rules:

• Only use this forum to share checklist data in Diary import/export format and to comment on that data
• Create a new thread for sharing new data
• If you have comments on the data being shared after you have downloaded and imported it, make the comments as a reply in the original thread
• If you can make corrections after downloading and importing, do so in Diary and export and attach as a reply in the original thread
• When creating a new post, please supply information on the source of your data

Please see the next two posts for instructions on using the Checklist Editor and the Import/Export functions.