(Note: For Breeding Bird Surveys, also see Options.)
The File menu item Initialize (F4) allows you to create multiple sighting records for the currently highlighted species, all records having the same date and comment, and each having a different Place which you select from the Places Tables. (If a Family name is highlighted in the Master Checklist, the File / Initialize menu item is disabled.)
This approach is useful if your current paper birding records look like this:
European Starling - France, Italy, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, King County, My Yard
Highlight a species in the Master Checklist and select File / Initialize, or press F4. You will be prompted for a date and a comment. Then AviSys will repeatedly take you to the Places Tables to select Places. Each time you select a Place, a sighting record for the bird will be created with the Place you selected and the date and comment you entered at the start. The process will keep repeating until you click the red X to cancel Place selection.
This is a way to update your initial state and nation lists. Thus, depending on your strategy, the date would be a fictitious early date, such as 1/1/1950, or a late date, such as 12/31/2020. (See Chapter 2, Power and Strategy, How Do I Enter My Initial Life Lists) Also, the comment might have a notation such as "Initial Lists" to identify these records.
It is your responsibility to select rational Places, and to select only Places that meet the requirements for sighting records, i.e., each Place must be a Nation or have a Nation in its linkage, and if the Place is in the US or Canada, it must be a State or Province or have one in its linkage. The selection will be rejected if it does not meet these requirements.
It is possible to assign records directly to a Continent, in which case you will be prompted for a Nation. We recommend, however, that you add all the Nations you need to the Nations table, unless you have birded in more than about 60 nations. You can add Nations at any time as you are entering multiple records.
As records are added in this function, the Journal and Record Stream (if invoked) are updated, just as if you had entered the records manually. You can select the Journal to review the results and to make any corrections, and you can pass on these sightings to another data set or another computer, via the Record Stream.