During a coastal bird count, observers record three categories: present, absent after an adequate search, and not assessed. The third category is easy to overlook when results are summarized. A site not visited because of rough weather may appear as a blank cell, and a reader may interpret that blank as evidence that no birds were there. The team replaces blanks with an explicit code and records the search effort for each site. This does not add birds to the count. It prevents missing information from being converted into a negative finding. The distinction also guides the next survey: a well-searched empty site and an unvisited site raise different questions. Useful records preserve not only what was found but also what kind of observation supports, or fails to support, each entry.