Life List & Year List Tracker
Log sightings and keep a life list, a year list and a record of where and when — stored in your browser with nothing uploaded.
Life list
| Species | First seen | Place | Notes |
|---|
Life list, year list, big year
A life list counts each species once, ever. A year list resets on the first of January, which is why the same common birds get chased again every spring and why the first week of a new year is oddly enjoyable. A big year is simply a year list somebody decided to take seriously.
The notes field is worth more than the count. Ten years on, "Barred Owl" tells you nothing, while "calling back and forth with a second bird at dusk, low over the path" is the entry you will actually remember — and the reason to keep a list at all rather than a tally.
Stored in this browser only; nothing is uploaded. Export the CSV if a list you have built over years matters to you, because a browser cache does not.
How to use
- Add each species with the date and place.
- Read your life list and year list totals.
- Export regularly — this is stored locally only.
- Record what you actually identified, not what was probably there.
Frequently asked questions
What is a life list?
The cumulative record of every species you have identified, one entry per species. It is the central record most birders keep, and a year list runs the same idea over a single calendar year — which is why January is unusually busy for people who keep one.
What counts as a countable sighting?
You identified it yourself, with confidence, and it was alive, wild and free. Most listing conventions exclude captive birds, and heard-only records are accepted by many and not by all. Where a rule is ambiguous, deciding your own and applying it consistently matters more than which you pick.
Should I record uncertain sightings?
Record them separately rather than counting them. The temptation to round up a probable identification is what makes a list unreliable, and the birder most misled by an inflated list is the one who kept it. A note of what you saw and why you were unsure is more useful than a tick.
Why record location and date?
Because the list becomes far more useful with them. Knowing where and when you saw something tells you where to look again, reveals your own seasonal patterns, and makes the record potentially useful to others — a bare species name does none of that.
Should I submit records to a public database?
It is worth considering. Platforms like eBird aggregate observations into genuinely valuable datasets used in research and conservation. A personal list is for you; a submitted record contributes to something larger, and the two are not in conflict.
Where is my list stored?
In your browser on this device, so nothing is uploaded and no account is needed. It will not follow you to another device and clearing browsing data removes it — which is why exporting a list representing years of observation is not optional.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.