Ornithology B/C

[Celeste]

If we are not allowed binders, (which I think will likely be the case) do we think there will be any changes on note sheet restrictions? Some people think that one page isn't enough, and in some other events you're allowed more. (Like for Remote Sensing you can have 5.) And what about rules for tabbing and writing in our field guides?

[FueL]

If we are not allowed binders, (which I think will likely be the case) do we think there will be any changes on note sheet restrictions? Some people think that one page isn't enough, and in some other events you're allowed more. (Like for Remote Sensing you can have 5.) And what about rules for tabbing and writing in our field guides?

Hmm. Since we're allowed to bring a guide, I don't think they'll let us have more than one notesheet. I'm personally okay with one page, just lumping general bird facts on there. It's also likely that your field guide will have one or more blank pages where you can stuff extra information if needed.

They should have been more specific with tabbing this year. There was a lot of confusion about that in the beginning, so the rules will probably be modified to make the tabbing restrictions more clear.

[paleonaps]

What restrictions? What I want is the definition of field guide more clearly. I used a gigantic book for Invitationals, Regionals, and States, but every time I worried about it's allowance. IT was huge because it had giant pictures, but similar information to a small guide. I think the definition should be on content, not size. So encyclopedia- no. Textbook- no. Giant field guide- yes.

[FueL]

What restrictions?

Size of the tabs, what info we were allowed to put on them, etc.

What I want is a definition of a field guide more clearly.

That was cleared up in the event FAQs here. By that your field guide wouldn't have been allowed, though the event supervisors at the competition weren't aware of the restriction. I think it's a good definition as it takes some of the ambiguity out of the question without going so far as to recommend specific sizes.

[amerikestrel]

What restrictions? What I want is the definition of field guide more clearly. I used a gigantic book for Invitationals, Regionals, and States, but every time I worried about it's allowance. IT was huge because it had giant pictures, but similar information to a small guide. I think the definition should be on content, not size. So encyclopedia- no. Textbook- no. Giant field guide- yes.

They could always put up a list of 5-10 (or more) books that are allowed. Almost everyone uses the Peterson, Sibley, NatGeo, or a few others. But I doubt they'd bother doing that much work for a small rules clarification.

Shall we get into the 'which field guide is better' discussion? My vote is always for the Sibley. I don't understand why some people like photo field guides better.

[paleonaps]

I like the photo field guides better. I don't know why.
I used the Smithsonian handbooks. The pictures kind of suck, but they're good to study from. Since I'll study a lot more this year, I don't know what I'll use in competition.
I hate the Sibley. There is no information.
For me, the ID is easy. The info is harder.

[Celeste]

I use the Sibley. I think that it's easier to use illustrations for ID-ing rather than photos. The lack of information used to be a problem to me, but it's no big deal now that I've written all over the pages. The Sibley has a lot of room to write whatever you want in it.

[FueL]

I haven't used the Sibley before.

My choice would be photos of birds. I had a bad experience with the Peterson guide that the manual recommended, where some of the illustrations were incomplete. (one of the birds was entirely one color and had black scales painted on it )

IMO when picking a competition guide the quality of pictures plays little to no part. You have too little time to flip through the guide to try and match up bird pictures if you have no clue how to ID it. I'm more for guides that include miscellaneous information that's hard to memorize like egg characteristics, which is why I use the Stokes field guide.

[paleonaps]

Never seen it. Sounds like it's worth a try.

[RandomPerson]

Being a supporter of homebrew, I was browsing a homebrew news website regarding nintendo consoles, when I crossed upon this gem:
http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php ... 310.0.html

Which seems like a rather useful resource for Ornithology as it has a quiz on birds, and even include birdcalls. At the same time, I rather doubt it covers a large enough span of the SO birds list to be as useful as other resources.
Still, I can't imagine it doesn't cover at least some of the birds on the list, and for those this is a potentially convenient and useful resource.

What is good news is that being a finished application, it could be modified easily to fit SO better. Though its source code has not been released.

Its a little tricky to get this running on a DS, plain and simple one would need something called a flash cart. They're in a grey area of the law (though homebrew is legal itself), so I won't explain or link anything further, but they are rather cheap nowadays (15$ shipped if you shop smart, potentially lower if you don't need a microsd card).
Or, you could run it on a DS emulator on a pc for free, again I won't explain or link as its in a grey legal area.

Either way, pm me if you want more information, I may upload a video for those who don't want to mess with either.