# How do I observe a species for a list? **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** question\ **Created:** [June 6, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328 "2023-06-06T13:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![animallover28](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/animallover28/32/40845_2.png) [@animallover28](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/animallover28)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/1 "2023-06-06T13:12:00Z")
![IMG_7770](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/e/7/e76bc4aa6c462b21a4f1e2083e821793903b5f52.jpeg) I made a life list for birds of North America. But it says I observed 0 of them. Even though that is not true. I have no idea of how to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![susanne-kasimir](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/susanne-kasimir/32/34021_2.png) [@susanne-kasimir](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/susanne-kasimir)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/2 "2023-06-06T13:55:31Z")
When I go to your “Dynamic Lifelist” and filter for “birds” and “North America” I get 32 species. [https://www.inaturalist.org/lifelists/animallover28?view=tree&tree\_mode=full\_taxonomy&taxon\_id=3&place\_id=97394](https://www.inaturalist.org/lifelists/animallover28?view=tree&tree_mode=full_taxonomy&taxon_id=3&place_id=97394) That doesn’t help you much though, I suppose. :-( ---
**Author:** ![animallover28](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/animallover28/32/40845_2.png) [@animallover28](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/animallover28)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 2:04pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/3 "2023-06-06T14:04:29Z")
I made a new list for the birds of North America. Although I never knew you could do that on the dynamic life list. ---
**Author:** ![psweet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/psweet/32/3156_2.png) [@psweet](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/psweet)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:29pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/4 "2023-06-06T23:29:48Z")
Those life lists used to work the way you seem to expect, but when they put together the Dynamic Lifelist, they eliminated the “life list” functionality. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:48pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/5 "2023-06-06T23:48:22Z")
All lists outside the dynamic life list need to be manually udpated. For what it’s worth, when the “old” life lists _were_ syncing with your observations, there were a lot of bugs and issues, so they hadn’t worked well in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![animallover28](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/animallover28/32/40845_2.png) [@animallover28](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/animallover28)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/6 "2023-06-06T23:51:18Z")
That is sad. If you manually update it will it show how much species you observed of all? ---
**Author:** ![animallover28](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/animallover28/32/40845_2.png) [@animallover28](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/animallover28)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/7 "2023-06-06T23:55:31Z")
When I try to add a observation to the list, it doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/8 "2023-06-07T00:08:35Z")
Lists don’t list observations, they list taxa. So you’ll have to add taxa. Eg if you made a new observation of _Exampleus exampelii_, you’d have to add _Exampleus exampelii_ to your list. ---
**Author:** ![animallover28](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/animallover28/32/40845_2.png) [@animallover28](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/animallover28)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/9 "2023-06-07T00:15:00Z")
Okay. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/10 "2023-06-07T00:23:32Z")
If you want to see a list of all taxa you’ve observed on iNat, I suggest using the Dynamic Life List. IMO the other lists are better used for more esoteric groupings that can’t be made via the tools in the Dynamic Life List (eg [this list of mine](https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/4318545-Animals-that-have-bitten--pinched--or-stung-me)). ---
**Author:** ![rupertclayton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/rupertclayton/32/2745_2.png) [@rupertclayton](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/rupertclayton)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/11 "2023-06-07T00:29:36Z")
That’s a surprisingly long list. I would be feeling a little victimized at this point! ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 1:49am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/12 "2023-06-07T01:49:30Z")
Coincidentally I had this same question today. I have read this thread and I am not sure I understand. You are saying that grey “observed” bar in the stats section has no function (if so why don’t you just remove it?) and that there is no way to compare my list to my observations? > [@tiwane](#): > > Lists don’t list observations, they list taxa. So you’ll have to add taxa. Eg if you made a new observation of _Exampleus exampelii_, you’d have to add _Exampleus exampelii_ to your list. Are you basically telling assemble a new list using only taxa I have seen? I really cannot imagine why I would do that. ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/13 "2023-06-07T03:09:39Z")
Here is what I wanted: [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?list\_id=4401344&place\_id=any&user\_id=arboretum\_amy](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?list_id=4401344&place_id=any&user_id=arboretum_amy) It is possible with search URLs. ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:13am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/14 "2023-06-07T03:13:23Z")
I think you have seen 34 off your list. Is this what you wanted?[https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?list\_id=4405024&place\_id=any&user\_id=animallover28](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?list_id=4405024&place_id=any&user_id=animallover28) wow you made a long list! ---
**Author:** ![animallover28](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/animallover28/32/40845_2.png) [@animallover28](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/animallover28)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 11:36am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/15 "2023-06-07T11:36:09Z")
Yes I have seen 34 birds, but I wanted it to show on the gray observe bar in the list. But sadly that seems not possible anymore. ---
**Author:** ![nellse](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/nellse/32/22246_2.png) [@nellse](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/nellse)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/17 "2023-06-07T13:53:55Z")
I’m not sure if it works, but you might give it a try. It works on the place’s checklists so maybe…? Find a bird you already observed in your list and click on the “Edit” below the bird’s name. It should open a new screen with the bird’s picture to the top left. Right below the picture and the copyright info it shows the counter of observations and the word refresh (? not sure, my interface is in german, but should be something alike). If you click it on a bird you already observed it should update the counter to 1 (or more) and adding info of when etc below. When you now go back to your list’s overview (maybe refresh), the grey bar should have updated. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/18 "2023-06-07T15:22:21Z")
> [@arboretum\_amy](#): > > Are you basically telling assemble a new list using only taxa I have seen? I really cannot imagine why I would do that. No, I was just clarifying that if someone wants to edit a manual list, they’d have to manually enter a taxon, not an observation. As I said later, I don’t think using a manual life list to list all taxa you’ve seen on iNat is worth it because the Dynamic Life List does that already. ---
**Author:** ![animallover28](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/animallover28/32/40845_2.png) [@animallover28](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/animallover28)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/19 "2023-06-07T15:58:37Z")
![IMG_7774](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/d/8/d8ca930fcec2970f85e73b9dcb52ec087002e4ac.jpeg) Sadly I don’t have it, but thanks for trying. ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/20 "2023-06-07T16:13:27Z")
Maybe I should be making collection projects instead of lists. Set the project perimeters to the desired taxa, set myself as the only observer… ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328/21 "2023-06-07T16:16:12Z")
> [@tiwane](#): > > someone wants to edit a manual list, they’d have to manually enter a taxon, not an observation Can you clarify what you mean by “enter a taxon”? The taxon is already on the list, how would I enter it again? [Next page](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-do-i-observe-a-species-for-a-list/42328.md?page=2)