Hi Tweeters & Inland NW Birders -

I've just completed the latest update to the excel version of the WA
County Checklist , based on the Spring 2008 update to WA Birder.

This newest version of the excel-based county-by-county checklist of
Washington birds is available online, at a new location. The excel
file can be found at: http://www.wabirder.com/bartel_co_checklist.html
Thanks to Washington Birder not only for generating the data the
spreadsheet is based on but also now for hosting the checklist on
their site.


By the way, the WA Birder website is full of interesting info,
including the 2007 list report for us county & state listers, info on
each county, and other things. I'd highly recommend checking out
other parts of the site if & when you go to grab the checklist update.

This version of the checklist is based on the latest updates of
county-firsts compiled by Ken & Laurie Knittle for Washington Birder,
and covering information gleaned through March 2008.


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.

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. (none for this update) 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 . To do this, select the entire file and click
'sort' from the 'Data' menu. Check the box for Header Row, then
select the desired sort 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 this Spring
2008 update, there are no new species to add lines for, so skip this
step.

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) this would be all the
cells from F4 to AR502.

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 Benton County Ivory Gull].

That should do it. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions --

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA