A system for encoding bird field notes |  |
A system for encoding bird field notes | |
External consumers of bird sighting data often represent
sightings as spreadsheets or database tables. To make it
easier to export data into those tools, the FlatSighting class centralizes the most important
facts about a bird sighting into a single entity.
The constructor operates on a Sighting
instance S
FlatSighting ( S )
Attributes of this instance:
.txKey
Taxonomic key number for this kind of bird, as
described in the definition of the Taxon
class.
.abbr
First or only bird code, stripped of trailing blanks.
This code, the one in the .abbr2
attribute, and the .rel field are
documented in A system for representing bird
taxonomy.
.rel
If this is a single-code form, contains the empty
string. If this is a compound form, contains "|" for species pairs, or "^"
for hybrids.
.abbr2
If this is a single-code form, contains the empty string. If this is a compound form, contains the second bird code, stripped of trailing blanks.
.eng
The English name in “Generic[, Specific]” form. Examples: “Hawk, Hawaiian”; “Gadwall x Shoveler, Northern”.
.age
The age code, or an empty string if unknown.
.sex
The sex code, or an empty string if unknown.
.q
The countability flag: an empty string normally;
“-” for ABA uncountable;
“?” for unsure ID.
.count
The count field. Note that this is not necessarily a
single number! Examples: “1”; “#” for two
or more; “200-250”, a
range; “10+”, an
open-ended range. For an unknown count, it holds an
empty string, which is to be interpreted as
“one or more.”
.date
The date as ".
YYYY-MM-DD"
.regionCode
Two-character U.S. state code or other region code, capitalized. Always present.
.locName
Brief description of the general locality.
.observer
If the primary observer did not see this bird, the name of the observer who did; otherwise an empty string.
This method is available:
.delimited(delimiter='\t'):
Return the record as a string, with the attributes in
the order shown above (.txKey through
.observer), with the fields separated
by the supplied delimiter.