I've started to keep notes from my zoo visits, quite late in the day to be honest as I'm pushing 35, and currently they're scattered across various pieces of paper. I'm working through larger birds and herp's currently (owls and croc's respectively due to visiting Rodbaston and COTW), having completed mammals for the year. I just wondered if anyone had any tips they use for their note keeping? And because this is about my notes I thought I'd throw in some stat's as well. Enjoy. 16 (soon to be 17) collections visited this year, with a current total of 25 visits. 11 of those collections are new for me. 31 ZooChatters met up with this year, mainly at Hamerton. 58(!) mammal lifers for the year. 220+ mammal taxa seen, certain ssp and none ssp taxa are debatable. Looking at species I still need to see it appears I need a long weekend in Kent and a week in the West Country to mop up the more unusual taxa I'm yet to see.
I do this kind of thing from time to time in zoos I've never been to before. I basically have a pad in which I keep all the notes, and split the pad up with dividers labelled: species lists, exhibit descriptions/critiques and finally notes on the zoo as a whole. After the visit, I highlight lifers and tick them off my mammal list at home (I have written out all the mammal species and their classifications in a pad as well) However, it's often quite hard to keep track of it as I pass through the zoo with my camera. Hope this is helpful but if I entirely missed the point, do tell me
I tend to do my writing after the visit as I find taking notes whilst there takes away from the visit, unfortunately I have to rely on my memory and photos when I get home. Far too much effort, that's what the internet and printers are for! Nah, this is the sort of thing I'm interested in. I've never really kept notes from anything before so I'm just ironing out the creases. There are no wrong replies on this thread...
That is true. It is really hard to do it during the visit, especially when you are holding multiple other things (zoo map, camera, lunch , whatever it may be), but also to write coherently and legibly. My pad is hardback, so that helps, but writing standing up is difficult to say the least. As for the mammal list, I wanted to do it my way, and have the status of every animal, and be able to actually tick the animal off because I like to do things properly Anyway, I'm still not finished, it, only about halfway through Muridae but I'm getting there
