Hi Bob -
At 06:06 23/03/00 +1100, you wrote:
>Let me add my congratulations to those from Lorne.
Thanks; much appreciated.
>It does, however, reveal (again) the poor old RAOU's discomfort with us
>troublesome and uncouth twitchers. To quote Hugo "At this stage we are
>keeping the rare birds a secret". It reminds me of the advert after the
>Gluepot purchase for a volunteer warden that included the famous line -
>twitchers need not apply. When it came to finding the money, however, what
>did they do? Run a twitchathon!
I don't remember the ad. It was probably meant lightheartedly, with the
implication that there would be so much to do that there would be little
time for twitching. It may be seen as tactless; however, Birds Australia is
not a monolithic organisation, and our many and varied constituent groups
(including the national office) often do things in ways that reflect their
characteristics and the personalities of the people who run them.
The reason for not naming the threatened species recorded on Newhaven right
now is that the owner would prefer not be bothered by people turning up and
wanting pointers to sites for particular species at this early stage of the
appeal / purchase process. Remember that we do not own the property yet.
I am sure that anyone with some knowledge of the area and the habitats
involved could make an educated guess as to most of the species concerned.
However, by June at the latest, all will be revealed; names will be named;
the endangered will be exposed; the outrageously charismatic will be outed.
>The old fogy element at the RAOU
>need to get their brains out of mothballs and learn how to live with us
>proletarians - twitchers have enthusiasm and money.
The fogy component of BA has been declining towards extinction. I can't
see any around me now, although there may be the odd mummified corpse in
the archives. Seriously, many BA staff would describe themselves as at
least occasional twitchers, and there is no disdain towards those who keep
a variety of life, year, country, state, pelagic, tv, penguin, gull or
garden bird-lists - maybe just an occasional twitch of envy of those with
the means to flit over to Christmas Island or Torres Strait whenever a
possible new species for the Australian list is reported.
Once we are managing Newhaven, guidelines for access will be drawn up.
Everyone who respects and follows them will be welcome, those with
enthusiam and money included.
Cheers,
Hugo
Hugo Phillipps
Communications Coordinator
Birds Australia
415 Riversdale Road
HAWTHORN EAST 3123, Australia
Tel: (03) 9882 2622, fax: (03) 9882 2677
Email: <>
Web site: <http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au>
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