The outings log is where you specify the location information for each sighting. More than one bird can be listed at each location.
The outing date is self-explanatory - the date of the sighting.
The base latitude and longitude is the map location where the sightings were seen. This can be filled in directly (in decimal degrees) from GPS data, or you can use the "Interactive Location Picker" (below) to pick the location on the map.
The City/County, Location, and Sub-Location fields are used to Specify a general location for the sightings. These are user-defined fields that are used when creating reports.
The Category field is a user-defined category (you can either pick from the list or type into the box). It is used to categorize sightings for later reporting. An example of this might be "Wednesday Bird Hikes". Adding this as a category allows you to easily extract only those sightings seen on the bird hike when generating reports.
The "observers" field defaults to the user name you entered the first time you ran the software. It lets you use the software for more then one person, while still maintaining the option of exploring all the data combined or just your own sightings (there's an option on the report form).
The Base Comments are any general comments you'd like to include for the sightings. "Snowing like crazy", for example.
The "Entry has been uploaded" check box lets you know if this entry has been uploaded to the regional list. It is read-only and is included for informational purposes only. Any edit to an entry that has already been uploaded causes this flag to be cleared, indicating that modifications will be written to the regional database the next time you perform an upload (see the Uploading Sightings topic)
The "Do not display in regional list" check box is a way for you to hide these sightings in the "regional" (internet) list (if you're participating in that project). Checking off this box will not show these sightings to other users. This can be useful for breeding or sensitive birds.
The "Scramble the location in the regional list" will introduce small errors (a block or two) in the latitude and longitude when the sighting is being viewed by others in the regional list. This is useful for hiding your house location (for example). The other users viewing the internet list will see the sightings jump around slightly on the map when they view those sightings. This is a safety feature.
