BirdingCentral User Manual - Reports
Many reports are avaible to view sightings and species lists. Reports that include all users can be found under the 'View Data' menu , while your specific reports are available under the 'My Reports' menu (available once you've logged in). The general reports include lists of sightings and species, as well as lists of states, locations, and users. Nearly all the reports can be limited to specific users, states, locations, species, years, months or dates.
There is typically a summary of the information included in the report provided under the report title. Clicking a link in this summary will provide additional information. For example, a report of species seen at a particular location will indicate that there were 23 sightings included in the report. Clicking on this link will open a report listing each of the 23 sightings.
Most reports include a 'Map' button to the right of the report title. Clicking this button will display the map browser and load the information currently being displayed in the report into the map browser. For example, if you are looking at a list of your current sightings in Arizona in 2006, the map browser will load these sightings and display their locations. You can then use the map browser tools to view more details.
Recent Sightings
The recent sightings report lists sightings by date, showing the most recent sightings first. You can click on any specific sighting to view more detail (including a map).
State/Province Lists
The States report shows the number of sightings and locations in each state. You can click on these links to see a list of the sightings or locations for that state. The States report also provide links to the map and species list for each state. Note that Canadian provinces are also included in these reports.
Locations
The Locations report shows the number of sightings and species reported for each location, listing the locations with the most sightings first. You can click on these links to see a list of the sightings or species list for that location, or you can click on the 'map' link to view the location in the map browser.
Species
The Species list report shows species that have been reported, grouped by family. There are two types of reports:
- Long List - Displays all species with a tick mark next to the species that have been reported.
- Short List - Displays ONLY species that have been reported.
For both of these types, you can click on the species name for any species with a tick next to it to view sightings of that species You can click on these links to see a list of the sightings or species list for that location, or you can click on the 'map' link to view the location in the map browser.
Life Birds
The Life Birds report shows displays a list of species and the date that you first reported it. The species are reported by year and sorted by date within each year. You can click on the date to view specific details about the sighting in which you first reported that species.
Annual and Monthly Lists
The Annual and Monthly Lists report shows a list of years and months in which you have reported sightings and the number of species you reported during that period. You can click on any of the years/months to view a list of the species reported during that time period.
Sightings by Date
The Sightings by Date report shows a list dates (most recent first), the number of sightings you have reported that day, and the number of locations you reported from that day. There is a link to the Map Browser that will display the locations from that day and a link to the list of species that were reported that day.
Other Birders
The Other Birders report shows users that have reported sightings, sorted by their user names, along with thier lifelists, number of sightings, and number of locations. You can click on any of these links to open a report with more details. You can also click on the 'Map' to view a user's sightings in the map browser.
Search
The search report allows you to search for sightings by dates, users, states, locations, and species. Enter critieria in the right hand column and click 'Update' to search for sightings that match these criteria. You can limit your results to just your sightings or those of your friends, select specific date ranges, limit your results to a specfic state or location, or search for sightings that include particular species. Multiple species can be entered. You can choose to search for sightings that include any of the species you select (the default), or that include all the species you selected.
Map Browser
The Map Browser is an advanced tool for exploring sightings via a map interface. It can be accessed from many places within BirdingCentral and may display various information depending on how the browser is accessed. For instance, if you are viewing a report that show your sightings of a particular species and click on the 'Map' button, the map browser will load the locations where you have reported that species.
The Map Browser defaults to a view that shows most of North America. States or provinces that have sightings will show a small red icon. You can click on these icons to bring up a small popup over the state/province. From here, you can select 'zoom' to zoom into the state/province and view the specific locations within that area (they appear as green icons). When you do this, a list of the most commonly used locations will appear in the right hand menu. You can alternatively click on the link to the state/province in the navigation area above the map. Only states that have actual sightings will appear as links in this area.
You can click on the green location icons to bring up a small menu. From here, you can choose to zoom into the location or load a list of recent sightings at that location. If you choose to zoom in, the map will center on the location and zoom to show the precise location. Zooming will also load a list of recent sightings into the right hand menu. If you choose to view a list of sightings, the right hand menu will update to show the most recent sightings, but the map will not zoom in.
You can view the details of a sighting by clicking on it in the right hand menu. This will load a small box that will display the details of the sightings and any comments. To close this box, you can press escape, or click the mouse anywhere outside this box.