Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Free Tools: Calendering for Wildlife Dates

There are a few free tools that I use some times:
Overdisk
Bulk Rename Utility
Picasa
Gmail
Dropbox!


The one that I just started to use today/tonight for increased awareness and productivity is Google Calendar. I stated to enter past successes and dates for things like Osprey spottings, fox kit spottings, etc. I will be adding tons of new things as time goes on, and as I see new things.

The key thing to this tool for future years is how I am adding the past events. I'm adding them as yearly-recurring events with reminders days in advance. This will automatically email me of up coming dates when things worked in previous years! And it's free!

I've been shooting wildlife with a passion for maybe 3 or 4 years. Learning from past experience is a must, and as more time passes and more experience is amassed a tool like this is a great addition.

I highly recommend that you add a tool or system like this to your own research and shooting habits. Don't ask me for my info, that's the part you need to keep track of from your own travels. I only go to a very small patch of this globe we all live on, and I want to share the sights I find and see and track (not the specific details of my planning or shooting locations on that level). Your goal, if you're reading this blog for insight and help and guidance to do your own nature and wildlife photography work, should be to find your own slice of wildlife to watch, observe and learn from and share with others...

Google calendars and tracking events as yearly recurring events can be a great way to aid in that.

I'm already looking forward to - Ospreys and Chicks, Fox and Kits, etc.
Osprey

Full Nest Syndrome



Fox Kits

I've also added dates for Black-Crowned Night Herons returning, and will be adding many other migratory species and the locations they've shown up in and when... The in-advance reminders should be a real help, and I recommend you give that a go too...

Happy Shootin'
-50-

-Jon

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3 comments:

Adam R. B. Jack said...

First, thanks for your blog, I enjoy reading it & re-tweet it regularly.

Second, I wrote WildObs (http://wildobs.com) with your calendar use case in mind. I wait with anticipation for the hummers to return each year, and hope to build enough "smarts" into WildObs to allow crowd-sourcing of such timely events.

Not there yet, but I hope to get there. :)

Unknown said...

Just this winter I started using Google Calendar for adding recommendations from others for peak bird migrations at specific hotspots in the spring. It hadn't occurred to me to use it for my own experiences yet, but will put this into action now.

Thanks for sharing this tip!

Joanna Durczok said...

Great blog! Your photos are amazing!! I wish I had such a talent:) BEAUTIFUL!