I am planning on purchasing bird listing software and have narrowed the
choices to Thayer's Birder's Diary or AviSys. Version 3.0 of Birder's
Diary will be a complete rewrite and is scheduled to ship in August.
AviSys version 3.0 is apparently a major upgrade but not a complete
rewrite. It is scheduled to begin shipping in a few days.

Based on the research I've done to date, AviSys appears to have a more
robust data base engine and is faster than the current version of
Birder's Diary. Also it appears to have more flexibility in generating
reports. However, those are comparisons with the old version.
Furthermore, AvsSys' data base coding may be getting old and may be
encountering some limitations. Birder's Diary appears to have more
features.

I have done a fair amount of web research and have not found any recent
comparison data from objective sources. The most recent actual
comparison data between the listing software (not Bird's of North
America - the companion CD) dates from 98 & 99.

I would greatly appreciate any information and experiences that any of
you may have had with these programs.

Tom Merritt
Seattle
email birders.2341 at attbi.com