Naming the ones you recognise
A Pokédex is a list of kinds. A codex, if it is honest, is also a list of neighbours.
What counts as an individual
A limp, a missing claw, a pale feather in the wrong place, a preferred post, a way of approaching the water. Magpies and kookaburras are generous with these marks. Wrens are harder; name the party if you cannot name the bird.
Names that stay kind
Give names you will not be embarrassed to write in five years. 'Left-foot' will outlast 'Supreme Overlord'. Record the mark that justified the name, or the next season will argue with you.
The long observation
The pleasure is not in collecting. It is in noticing that the same magpie who watched you hang washing in April is teaching a juvenile on the same lawn in November. That is the whole sport.
