Subject: [Tweeters] Updated WA County checklist available on line
Date: Jan 8 10:48:55 2007
From: Matt Bartels - mattxyz at earthlink.net


Hi Tweeters & Inland-NW Birders-

I've just completed the latest update to the excel version of the WA
County Checklist , based on the Winter 2006 issue of WA Birder. (
NOTE: This is a slightly different project than the County Year List
Compilers that filled Tweeters last week -- I'll be posting more
about that sometime this week too, though!)


This newest version of the excel-based county-by-county checklist of
Washington birds is available online. The excel file can be found
at: <http://www.wos.org/CountyList.htm>www.wos.org/CountyList.htm
(thanks WOS & Michael Hobbs for hosting).

This version is based on the latest issue of Washington Birder [vol.
14 #4]. With this revision, the Asotin County list has been updated,
other county firsts have been added, and one bird has been added to
this version of the state list [Common Ringed Plover]. The Whooper
Swan that has been seen in Snohomish & Skagit Counties recently
arrived a little too late for this update, so it will be added in
coming updates. For anyone who would like help adding it in to their
checklist sooner, just drop me an email.

If you are looking for a quick reference for how common a given
species is in any county, this excel file can be handy. Further, if
you are interested in keeping track of your county lists, this file
works as a checklist for each county and the state as a whole. There
are now 3 different sort orders available - the 'old order' [the way
most books are still organized], 'newer order' [the short-lived order
that hasn't shown up in the field guides yet], and the 'newest order'
[AOU47-compliant]. As needed, the list can be sorted back & forth
between any of these. Eventually, I'll probably remove that 'newer
order' option, since it lasted only a short while....

Thanks again to the Knittle's for making this data available in
Washington Birder, and thanks to those who have sent questions,
comments or suggestions. Let me know if you have any problems working
with the sheet or ideas for changes.

Finally, for anyone already using the old file who wants instructions
on how to transfer your information from that one to this new one,
read on (for everyone else, I'd recommend skipping the dry
instructions that follow).

Short version: Use the the same tax order to sort both your old file
and the new one. Add blank lines the where new species will be
inserted. Copy color-coded cells portion of old file, and paste
"values" only into the new file [using paste-special].

Longer Step-by-step Explanation:

1. Download newest file from webpage [save under a different name
than your own file]

2. Open both the new file and your old one.

3. Make sure both old and new files are sorted according to the same
taxonomic order - either the 'old' or the 'newer' one. To do this,
select the entire file and click 'sort' from the 'Data' menu. Check
the box for Header Row, then select 'older AOU order' or 'newer AOU
order' in the top box, with the default setting of Ascending selected.

4. On your[old] file, insert blank rows [using the 'rows' option on
the Insert menu] where new species will be added. For example, to
make space for Common Ringed Plover, insert a row beneath Snowy
Plover.

Those changes will leave your data ready for transfer.

6. On your [old] file, highlight all of the cells that have the color
coding in them and press control-C to copy this section [or use the
'copy' option from the Edit menu]. In the present file (once you've
added the blank rows for the new state species and deleted the lumped
species) this would be all the cells from E4 to AR498.

7. Click on the F4 box of the new file, and then choose 'paste
special' from the edit menu. In the dialogue box that opens, select
'values' under the paste section [instead of 'all']. It is important
to paste only the values -- otherwise you will bring over all the old
color codes too!

All your data should be pasted into the new file.


8. Do some double checking to ensure the formulas are adding up to
the same numbers they did in the old file. Also check to be sure you
haven't brought over the old color codes [check a county first like
the Adams Co. Pacific Loon].

That should do it.

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA

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