FAQ

1. Is there a version of these Birding Checklists for iPhone or Windows Mobile?

No, these have been developed for Android only, and there are no plans to support any platform other than Android.

2. Will the Birding Checklists run on Android tablets as well as smartphones?

Yes.

3. I have purchased a new phone/tablet, can I transfer the Birding Checklist from my old phone to it?

Yes. The Google Play store allows a single purchase to be installed simultaneously on several devices, so you can run it on both a smartphone and tablet device at the same time.

If you have used the checklist for a period of time, when you install the Birding Checklist application on the new device you will want to retain your Lifelist statistics and "todaylist" log entries. Simply copy the contents of the Birding Checklist folder (eg for UK/WP this is the \UKBirdingChecklist folder, for Australia this is the \AUSBirdingChecklist folder) including all sub-folders to the SD card or internal memory on the new device. I recommend keeping a backup copy of your Lifelist and todaylists on your PC in case something happens to your phone and you have to do a hard reset (on phones with internal memory a hard reset is likely to erase everything). You can restore the application from the Google Play store, and download the resource files from the download site - but your Lifelist and todaylists are specific to you.

4. What is the difference between the demo and full versions?

The demo versions have reduced functionality, do not receive any bug fixes or enhancements, and you do not get any support. They are for you to try out and verify that the application will meet your needs.

5. Why are there separate checklists for each country - can't we have a single checklist covering the entire world?

There are over 10,000 species of birds in the world, and over 27,000 sub-species. Such an application would be much larger to download and install on the phone, and would be slower to operate. Filtering would be needed to reduce the list of birds down to those relevant for each user, and many people are only interested in the birds for their own country. It was considered, but so far is deemed impractical.

Please also check out my Bird Families application. Lifelists can be imported from all the Birding Checklists to quickly populate the full species listing (based on IOC), and provide statistics on the numbers of Families and Bird Species you have seen worldwide.

6. My phone has both an SD card and internal memory. Why can't I move the resource files to the SD card to conserve internal memory?

Android only recognises one "external SD card" storage device. Where a phone has internal memory and an SD card (eg Samsung SII), the external SD card appears as an additional special folder on the main storage device. Each phone manufacturer provides access in a different way and the mount point name varies. The wide range of devices and additional complexity of user setup has made this too difficult to implement.

7. What Android versions are supported?

The applications should run on any device running Android 1.6 and later. There are a few functional limitations if you are on 2.1 and below. The vast majority of users are now on Android 2.3 and above. Tablet devices (Honeycomb, 3.x) and Android 4.x are supported.

8. I can't find the menu button (Android 3.x and later).

In order to support the widest range of older phones, the Birding Checklist do not use the new Action Bar menu system. However, newer phones/tablets (Android 3.x and later) must provide legacy support, either through the Action Bar overflow (three dots will appear on the top right of the screen), or on some phones a long-press on one of the soft buttons will activate the legacy menu (eg HTC Sensation). Please check your phone manual as this varies from device to device.

9. I can't find the application on the Google Play store, or the store says the application is not compatible with my device.

You may strike this if you have been using a demo version, and decide to upgrade to the full version. The full version can plot the bird GPS locations on Google Maps, and this requires the Googe Map libraries to be installed. Normally these are included with the Android operating system when you purchase the smartphone or tablet. However, some of the low-cost tablets from China have been reported to be missing these libraries. The presence of Google Maps on the device does NOT mean that the libraries are present. Check and see if you can download and install the common MyTracks application from the Google Play store. I have updated the application so that you "should" be able to install the application on these devices missing the Google Maps APIs (but you will not be able to use the GPS mapping function).

10. A bird is missing. Can I add new species myself?

No, you can't add it yourself but let me know and I'll update the list and publish an update for all users. (I can do this very quickly).

Note that by default in "Filter - Advanced" the checkbox "Show only tickable species" is ticked. This hides sub-species, and also some introduced/domestic species that are considered non-tickable; one example is the Rose-ringed Parakeet in the UK. Unticking the checkbox (don't forget to "Save settings") will show these additional species (of which there are only a few per checklist).

11. Can I use the application for other logging purposes - butterflies, vertebrates, etc?

Please email me to discuss your application.

12. Can I import/export data to another application (other than eBird)?

Yes, this is possible and it may be easy or hard depending on what the external application is. All exported data - lifelists, todaylists and ebird export files are csv (comma separated value) format. These files are widely compatible with other systems, or may be simply manipulated using Excel to match the requirements of other systems.

13. I have just purchased the Birding Checklist and wish to enter my current lifelist. Is there an easy way?

Easier than selecting each bird on the list and updating the lifelist and region ticks individually? Yes there is. You can do it on your PC if you are careful, and follow this process:

(i) In the Birding Checklist application, use the menu "Lifelist - Save Lifelist (all birds)". This will create a lifelist.csv file listing every bird from the database, but with none of the entries "ticked".

(ii) Using Excel (or similar) on your PC, go through the lifelist.csv file and set the "Tickable" column to "Y" for the birds you have seen. The "Last seen" and "Location" columns should be changed from "***" to "-" (or set with data and location you saw the bird, if you remember or have this information to hand), and you can optionally also set the Regional ticks for those areas where you have seen the bird. This will still take some time, but will be faster than using the touch screen on the phone.

(iii) When you have finished, copy the lifelist.csv file back to the phone, open the Birding Checklist and do a "Lifelist - Restore". (Be careful not to do a save first, or to open and close the application before the restore, as the lifelist is automatically saved when the program is closed and this would overwrite your modified lifelist before you have had time to load it).

13. The scientific/latin names in the application are wrong?

They need to match those in eBird (Cornell University) so that the eBird upload works. Other scientific names are in use and there are variations in spelling. See next FAQ question.

14. Which classification system is the application based on (Clements, IOC, etc.)?

They do not rigorously adhere to any. I have tended to lean towards IOC (the Bird Families application is based on IOC) but there is no fixed rule. The NZ Birding Checklist follows the list published by OSNZ, and their classification does not match with eBird, Clements, etc. This will cause problems if you are exporting data to other bird journal logging systems. The US follows the ABA checklist. Avibase was also used (which defaults to Clements 6th edition). I am amazed that a single, agreed and consistent birding taxonomy has not yet been created.

15. Why aren't there photos, sounds, rangemaps and extended descriptions for every single bird?