Ornithology B/C

[hmmm]

So this is my first time on an ID event, and I was wondering if you guys find it more efficient to organize your binder alphabetically by bird, or by order/family.

Do it by order of the list, and look at the list while trying to find a bird. Doing it alphabetically would just be a waste of time

Why exactly would it be a waste of time? I've done that for my Rocks and Fossils binders and its worked pretty well.

[CPScienceDude]

I've noticed something. On the Cornell lab of orni website, it has Northern Bobwhites under the Odontophoridae family, while the Indiana list has it under the Phasianidae family. Which should I follow?

[gz839918]

I've noticed something. On the Cornell lab of orni website, it has Northern Bobwhites under the Odontophoridae family, while the Indiana list has it under the Phasianidae family. Which should I follow?

I'm guessing it's just a typo on the Indiana list, because the nationals list has it as the only entry below Odontophoridae. Maybe they accidentally deleted the line for Odontophoridae.

[Molybon]

So this is my first time on an ID event, and I was wondering if you guys find it more efficient to organize your binder alphabetically by bird, or by order/family.

Honestly, I don't believe it really matters which method of organization you use. Once you start taking practice tests you will learn where the birds are. As long as it's not completely nonsensical, you should be fine.

[cbrant554]

So this is my first time on an ID event, and I was wondering if you guys find it more efficient to organize your binder alphabetically by bird, or by order/family.

Let me rephrase my answer, do it way anyway you find comfortable, just keep it consistent. Don't do some by alphabetical and others by order of the list, then test with the binder to figure out how to use the binder and to know where each bird is.

[Blank25]

So this is my first time on an ID event, and I was wondering if you guys find it more efficient to organize your binder alphabetically by bird, or by order/family.

Do it by order of the list, and look at the list while trying to find a bird. Doing it alphabetically would just be a waste of time

Why exactly would it be a waste of time? I've done that for my Rocks and Fossils binders and its worked pretty well.

Because a lot of birds are similar. If you do it by order/family, if you could be like "that bird's some kind of waterfowl" and you could look in that order so it would kind of be easier to reference stuff if your ever stuck.

[hmmm]

Do it by order of the list, and look at the list while trying to find a bird. Doing it alphabetically would just be a waste of time

Why exactly would it be a waste of time? I've done that for my Rocks and Fossils binders and its worked pretty well.

Because a lot of birds are similar. If you do it by order/family, if you could be like "that bird's some kind of waterfowl" and you could look in that order so it would kind of be easier to reference stuff if your ever stuck.

I don't see how organizing it by order/family helps to reference stuff. If you need general info about the order/family, you go to the specific order page and if you need to ID you go to your ID chart.

[pepperonipi]

Why exactly would it be a waste of time? I've done that for my Rocks and Fossils binders and its worked pretty well.

Because a lot of birds are similar. If you do it by order/family, if you could be like "that bird's some kind of waterfowl" and you could look in that order so it would kind of be easier to reference stuff if your ever stuck.

I don't see how organizing it by order/family helps to reference stuff. If you need general info about the order/family, you go to the specific order page and if you need to ID you go to your ID chart.

"Oh darn, I never found the clutch size of a dunlin!"
Flips back a few pages
"Ah, here: my notes on Scolopacidae! It looks like the general clutch size should be 3-4! Perfect!"

I could see the case that organizing a binder alphabetically could help with quickly finding a specific species. However, I would say that with use of organized dividers and practice, you should be able to flip to the bird's order/family relatively quickly and then to the bird itself.

[Nooran008]

Because a lot of birds are similar. If you do it by order/family, if you could be like "that bird's some kind of waterfowl" and you could look in that order so it would kind of be easier to reference stuff if your ever stuck.

I don't see how organizing it by order/family helps to reference stuff. If you need general info about the order/family, you go to the specific order page and if you need to ID you go to your ID chart.

"Oh darn, I never found the clutch size of a dunlin!"
Flips back a few pages
"Ah, here: my notes on Scolopacidae! It looks like the general clutch size should be 3-4! Perfect!"

I could see the case that organizing a binder alphabetically could help with quickly finding a specific species. However, I would say that with use of organized dividers and practice, you should be able to flip to the bird's order/family relatively quickly and then to the bird itself.

I might do the dividers, but I don't recommend using the coverer thingy (i don't know what to call it) because i feel like you can fit more paper in

[Blank25]

I don't see how organizing it by order/family helps to reference stuff. If you need general info about the order/family, you go to the specific order page and if you need to ID you go to your ID chart.

"Oh darn, I never found the clutch size of a dunlin!"
Flips back a few pages
"Ah, here: my notes on Scolopacidae! It looks like the general clutch size should be 3-4! Perfect!"

I could see the case that organizing a binder alphabetically could help with quickly finding a specific species. However, I would say that with use of organized dividers and practice, you should be able to flip to the bird's order/family relatively quickly and then to the bird itself.

I might do the dividers, but I don't recommend using the coverer thingy (i don't know what to call it) because i feel like you can fit more paper in

I agree. The max binder size is 2" those cover things take up a lot of space. 2" can only hold like 300ish sheets max so like 1 or 2 pages per bird. But dividers are definitely good for organization.