From: Birdline
Victoria [
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005
10:01 AM
To: Birdline Weekly Update
Subject: Birdline Victoria Update
- 2 October 2005
Birdline Victoria Update No. 221
For the week
ending: 2 October 2005
It’s been nearly five years since I started Birdline Victoria and sent out the first of 221
weekly updates to a Victorian public that was sorely missing such a service. I
started Birdline because, as a newly converted birdo, I felt like I was always
the last to know about the good birds that were around, not having broken into
the tight-knit birding community.
The response was pretty much immediate and enthusiastic and soon the
service was getting lots of sightings and before long was instrumental in informing
Victoria’s
birders of what the local birds were doing. I received great support in these
early days as I attempted the still difficult task of winnowing the sightings
to determine which were significant and which not so significant (without
hurting anyone’s feelings along the way!).
Since then the momentum has grown and where we originally got a few
hundred visitors to the site each month, we now get a few thousand. From a few
sightings each week, we now get tens of sightings each week. That is down to
the generous nature of the Victorian birders (and many visitors to Victoria). I would
really like to single out a few people for special thanks, but I would really
hate to miss some of the great supporters of the service. A quick look at the
archives will quickly reveal who were the people that made Birdline such a
success and my sincere thanks go to them.
Now it’s time for me to pass on the baton. I have gone from being a
miserable sales rep who was making life more interesting by my extra-professional
activities to become a PhD student living in Canberra and making bird-watching my
profession. In a couple of months I will be heading up for a 5 month field
season north-east of Katherine in the Northern Territory to study the breeding
ecology of Hooded Parrots, so now seems an appropriate time to pass on my
responsibilities with Birdline.
Taking over Birdline will be Richard Alcorn. Richard is a keen
bird-watcher and with his wife Margaret run Eremaea Birds an online
birdwatcher's bird list organiser and world bird atlas
(http://www.eremaea.com/). Given the quality of this website, I’m sure that
Birdline is in good hands.
So, on to my final weekly update and a final thanks to all those who
have supported me and Birdline since its inception in November 2000.
Regards,
Stuart
