How to use the new ABA area (including Hawaii) with AviSys

This document assumes that you have installed the 2019 update. Moreover, it also requires that you have installed the Nation Checklist Add-On.

AviSys has never had an ABA mode per se. Its N.A. mode was effectively ABA mode, but that is no longer true for the enlarged ABA area; N.A. mode remains North American.

AviSys does have a reporting area named [ABA area] in the Continents table, but it is impossible to change the definition of this area; it is permanently set to the traditional ABA area including only the continental United States, Canada, and St. Pierre and Miquelon.

To implement a way of viewing or reporting on sightings according to the new ABA area, you will need to use the AviSys Z-LIST facility. If you haven't used a Z-LIST before, or need to refresh your memory, begin by reading the Z-LIST help file. Key points are:

1. You'll be creating a Z-LIST of Nations. This only works if you have the Nation Checklist Add-On installed.
2. Create or edit a Z-LIST by clicking File→Places Z-LIST....
3. This will open your most recently used Z-LIST, or a blank Z-LIST if it is your first Z-LIST.
4. To create a new Z-LIST for the new ABA area, first click the Clear button to get a blank Z-LIST.
5. For each nation in the ABA area (i.e., "United States","US-Hawaii", and "Canada") click the Add button, select the nation, and click OK.
6. If you have birded St. Pierre and Miquelon, you will have the nation "St Pierre, Miquel." in your Nations list, and you can also include it in your Z-LIST. If you haven't birded there but just want to include it for completeness, you will first need to add it to your Nations. It isn't necessary to do so.
7. When you are done, click the Save button and give the Z-LIST a name.
8. Click OK to close the Places Z-LIST window.
9. If you subsequently want to edit this, or another, Z-LIST, click File→Places Z-LIST.... and if necessary click the Load button to select the Z-LIST that you want to edit.

A couple of other things that are worth mentioning: AviSys has three different ways of defining parts of the United States, as noted in the checklist menu help file.

• The Continent "[Lower 48]" includes the 48 contiguous states.
• The Nation "United States" includes the 49 continental states.
• The Continent "[US]" includes the 50 states.

Also, AviSys has two different ways of identifying Hawaii: the State "Hawaii" and the Nation "US-Hawaii". Here's the significance of these quirks: First, you cannot include the special "[xxx]" continents in a Z-LIST, so you cannot use "[US]" or "[ABA area]" in your Z-LIST, you have to use the Nation "United States" plus Hawaii. Second, if you want to use the Z-LIST for a custom checklist, it cannot contain a mixture of nations and states, it has to be all one or the other. For this reason, AviSys provides the Nation "US-Hawaii" which you must use rather than the State Hawaii in order for the Z-LIST to be only a list of "Nations"..

To create a checklist from the Z-LIST, click on Checklists in the top menu, then click the Add button. Find Z-LIST in your Places (by default, it will be in the Counties table) and select it. You'll get a message "This checklist NOT auto-loaded. Use the Mark button to put species in it." Completely ignore this message; just click OK and don't do any marking.

Now, to use the checklist, click on Checklists and make sure that Z-LIST is highlighted in your list of checklists and then click the Invoke button. This will bring up the Places Z-LIST window. If it comes up blank, or with a different Z-LIST than you want, click the Load button and select the saved ABA Z-LIST to load it. Click OK, and there you have your new ABA checklist.

To run a report using the Z-LIST as the Place, find the place named Z-LIST in your Places (by default, it will be in the Counties table) and open it. If it comes up blank, or with a different Z-LIST than you want, click the Load button and select the saved ABA Z-LIST to load it.

Important note: the Z-LIST uses checklists from the Nation Checklist Add-On instead of the built-in state checklists, and the Nation Checklist Add-On checklist includes five species that are not on the ABA list. Thus, while the ABA list has 1111 species, your Z-LIST will have 1116 species. The additional species are: