I would imagine that Excel would work pretty well: dates going down and species across, and the formulas could tally the numbers.

I use excel myself to record releases by date and species, and it keeps a running tally for me. You could do the same for sightings. I'll share it if you provide an email address.

Aside from a simple database, IMO anybody who gets serious at all about Lepidoptera ought to be keeping a journal (field, rearing, etc). Catch the moment sort of thing (rather than from memory later), with impressions about what you see and questions you want to pursue answers to. Notes about habitat, weather, plant or Lep charcteristics or associations for example - or hunreds of other things that you will want to remember years later. Drawings also add alot to them, help with determinations and if you're a resercher out in the wilds like I was (not just your back yard) then simple maps or GPS coordinates are also a plus to find that same patch of earth again if you choose to. Your journals would be invauable to you later to refer back to, and over time will contain a massive account of your knowledge gained. I have my journals going back over four decades that can always be refered to as the old memory fades. Mine can be quite enjoyable to just leaf through and remember all those experiences, the new discoveries made, new people and new places that Lepidoptera took me and my family to. Same with my synoptic collection... looking at a specimen and reading its label often reminds me of not only the circumstances, but often actually collecting the specimen. Computers are fine as far as they go, but a journal can be carried with you anywhere you are and become the story of your lifes work with Lepidoptera.

FWIW

Larry

Good reminder, Larry, thanks!

I'm carrying a notebook, but I should probably expand my notes to include more than just date, time and place. I do think about certain things--like the impression that I get when I watch Strymon melinus land on a flower, turn around, and then their hindwings move at the tornus causing the tails to move like antennae--fooling a would-be assassin into attacking the wrong end and enabling them to make a clean get-away.

My microbiology professor in college could entertain us for hours reading some of her observational notes. You got a real feel for how she viewed what she did--with a sense of wonder and high regard for the complexity of the seemingly simple things in life. But I digress...

Notes are a good thing, that's why I took so many of them in college/grad school...and why so many of us have permanent writer's bumps.

Anna