Hans Krauss asks:
> Would like some ideas on how to record all this data as suggested by many of
> you, in such a manner that it makes sense, is fast and simple, easily
> understood by others, etc. Also a possible spread-sheet format that can
> summarize the data by visit, by month, by year, by years, etc. Any
> suggestions?

Many suggestions, but I won't get into all of them here. Many books have been
written on effective bird survey techniques, and they readily get into the
complicated realm.
Two directions I'd suggest as points of departure: Cornell Laboratory of
Ornithology and NatureMapping. Other Tweeters will probably have additional
ideas.
Cornell is a leader in the "Citizen Science" field. They coordinate several
programs that involve amateur & professional birders across the continent.
Check them out at: http://www.ornith.cornell.edu
NatureMapping is a recent development that started in Washington and is
spreading across the country. At a basic level, the coordinator is simply
looking for presence/absence information for Washington's wildlife and fish. If
individuals or groups want to do more, though, they can use the NM structure to
provide a coordinated framework for their specific projects. NM offers a FoxPro
program for compiling records that can then be exported to the master database.
See http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/nm/index.html
Advanced birders can get involved with Breeding Bird Surveys, Winter Bird
Population Studies, Breeding Bird Censuses, and Breeding Bird Atlases, as well
as other projects set up by wildlife biologists at a state or federal level.
Hans, because you're in Spokane, I would suggest contacting Howard Ferguson at
WDFW to see if he can use your help at a MAPS banding station or elsewhere.
If you're the independent sort, work toward defining "your" area, then visit
it regularly and give it roughly equal attention each time. Look to some of the
above-mentioned projects for how to count or map the birds at your site.

Waterbird monitoring at Olympia's East Bay consists of mapping all the loons,
grebes, and ducks on about 39 acres (0.16 km2) of an urban embayment, then
tallying the results. Each survey takes me about 20 minutes (longer when lots
of ducks are around, shorter when the bay is empty). I can see the entire
survey area with binoculars from my shoreline survey route. I repeat the counts
10 to 16 times per month, splitting them between high and low tides so I'm less
likely to get a bias toward dabblers or divers. At the end of a month, I can
add up the totals for each species and divide that by the number of visits I
made to get an index of abundance.
So: I use a defined area, try to detect every bird, and take the average from
repeated visits.
Essentially, this is what the Winter Bird Population Study requires. My survey
area is relatively small, but I have been able to squeeze some 300 surveys into
an often busy schedule over the past five years, and I haven't grown weary of
it, as I might if I were trying to cover 390 acres in my spare time. I now know
the East Bay waterbird community quite well (at the expense of not having a
good feel for the West Bay bunch), and have seen some interesting changes occur
(and some very cool birds) in this brief span.
Yakety-yak.
--
Scott Richardson
northeast Seattle
salix at halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/salix/