Re: Victorian Twitchathon 05

It's obviously very quiet out there on the birding front.

I think I recall discussions in past years about this with suggestions that you open it up as a national event.  

I like the "Modified Dolby System".  Because I only have the past five years totals for NSW (although I do prefer the 10 year average model) I've used the average of the past 5 years winning totals for both states.  The 7 year Twitchers (Vic) would have scored 96.7 while WOW (NSW) would have scored 105.4.  The Brewers (NSW) would come out at 104.5.

Obviously you are not going to please everyone.  There are clearly inequities that probably can't be addressed.  The Victorians are limited by state borders for example.  If we dropped border restrictions would the Victorian teams change their routes?  Others may cry foul that FNQ teams (for example) may have a greater diversity of birds within easy travelling distance.  I don't think it's possible to create a level playing field here.  There's already some apparent discontent in NSW (I've only heard second-hand) about some teams taking it all too seriously.  This is interesting as the teams that they must be referring to probably have the most irreverent attitude to the event of any of the teams (WOW don't even do a recce of sites before the Saturday of the event!).  The same teams (although I can really only speak for certainly about WOW) also raise significant amounts of money.

I think it would be interesting to open it up (only because I like a challenge) but not sure how it could be done while keeping enough teams happy to ensure that it remained an important find raising event.

Cheers

David Geering
Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator
Department of Environment & Conservation
P.O. Box 2111
Dubbo  NSW  2830
Ph: 02 6883 5335 or Freecall 1800 621 056
Fax: 02 6884 9382



This email is intended for the addressee(s) named and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. 

If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and then delete it immediately.  Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender except where the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the views of the Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW).