Handheld devices are extremely useful for keeping track of birds in the
field like on Christmas Bird Counts or everyday birding. In wet weather I've
kept mine in a ziplock bag, but typcially, I just I get out of the drizzle
to enter bird sightings.

I wrote an article "A Birdlist in the Handheld" in the June 2001 issue of
Birding Magazine. Basically, there are two types of operating systems: 1.)
the entire Palm, Inc. types including Palms, Handspring Visors, and Sony
CLIEs, etc, Or, 2.) Microsoft Pocket PC devices made by Hewlett Packard,
Casio, Compaq IPAQs, etc.

There are pros and cons to each platform. My favorite is the Pocket PC
because these devices have built-in Pocket Excel, (in which you could create
your own bird list.) Also, Pocket PCs can play music (including bird
sounds).

If anyone would like a PDF copy of the article, just e-mail me a request.

a disclosure: I am the distributor for a software product that installs on
these devices, but this is not a sales pitch, just a mention of the Birding
article that goes over how these devices can be useful

Bruce Webb
Granite Bay, California
BruWebb at rcsis.com