Guide · updated
Keeping a life list
How to record the animals you have seen, tick off a country checklist and keep your own copy. Everything stays in your browser.
A life list is a record of every species you have seen. Here you start one by pressing “I’ve seen this” on any species page; each sighting can carry a date, place and note. The list is stored only in your browser, so export a copy if you want to keep it.
Photo: Francis C. Franklin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
What is a life list?
A life list is a record of every species you have seen. Birdwatchers have kept them for generations, and the idea works for any animals. On this site it starts the first time you press “I’ve seen this” on a species page.
How do I start one?
It takes one press, and there is nothing to sign up for.
- Open the page of an animal you have seen. Search by common or scientific name.
- Press “I’ve seen this”. Add the date and place if you know them.
- Repeat for others, or tick several at once on a country checklist.
- Open My lists to see totals by group and country.
- Export a copy now and then: the list lives only in this browser.
What can I record about a sighting?
A sighting can carry a date, a country, a place name, whether the animal was wild or captive, how many you saw and a note. All of it is optional. You can record the same species more than once.
Besides sightings there are favourites, a wish list of animals you want to see, and lists you name yourself.
How do country checklists fit in?
Each country page has a tick-off checklist of its best-known animals on record. Ticking an animal adds a sighting for that country to your life list. The checklist prints cleanly if you want to take it outdoors.
Francis C. Franklin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Calibas (edit by Aqwis ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
ClaudiaTen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Peter Trimming · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Where is my list stored?
In your browser, on this device. It is not sent to the site and there is no account. That also means it is not backed up: clearing your browser data removes it, and it does not follow you to another device.
Use the export on the My lists page to save a copy as a file, and the import to load it elsewhere.
Can I bring in records from elsewhere?
Yes. The import accepts a spreadsheet file (CSV) with a scientific name column, including the files exported by iNaturalist and eBird. The scientific names are sent to the site once, to match them to species. Dates, places and notes are read in your browser and never leave it.
Which tools help with this?
My lists
Your life list, favourites, wish list and custom lists, with totals by group and country. Import a list of names or export everything as a file.
Country checklists
A tick-off list of the best-known animals on record for a country. Ticks are saved to your life list, and the page prints cleanly.
Random animal
Opens one animal with a photo and a name, chosen at random.
What do the terms mean?
- Life list
- A personal record of every species someone has seen.
- Scientific name
- The formal two-part name of a species, written in italics: the genus, then the species.
Is there a video on this?
Chosen for who made them. Each opens on YouTube.
- Tutorial: Add an Observation on iNaturalistVideo · iNaturalist
- Keeping dated, located records elsewhere, which you can later import here.
Where can I check this?
The outside sources this guide rests on.
- iNaturalist
- Its observation exports can be imported here.
- eBird
- Its “My eBird” data download can be imported here.
More guides
How to identify an animal you sawHow to read a species pageWhat conservation status meansHow animals are classifiedWhy a country list is not a range mapCiting and reusing what you find