Chris
I generally agree with your thoughts - although sometimes reports on eremea
take days to actually get posted. I know this from personal experience of
posting things on Saturday which come up on Monday or Tuesday! If something
really unusal is found - birding-aus works better as you can post it and people
get an email immediately (assumming they have email access!).
cheers
Rob Morris
Brisbane, Australia
> Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:00:14 +1000
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Rare Bird Alert Website
> From:
> To:
> CC:
>
> Hi Colin,
>
> A couple of points relating to your email. I think Eremea does a pretty
> good job of acting as an unusual/rare bird alert. Certainly in Melbourne it
> is a great way of keeping up with the latest sightings, and if more people
> used it in the Brisbane area I have no doubt it would be just as useful. I
> think on the rare occasion people don't report a rarity it is for one of two
> reasons. The first is they just don't know its rare. When I was in Broome
> I found a Banded Lapwing at Lake Eda. It went in the BBO day list, and I
> thought no more about it, because here in southern QLD they are common
> enough in the kind of habitat I saw it in. Turned out it was a first for
> the region and I just hadn't realised. Fortunately some other local birders
> found it and reported it more widely. I'm sure that kind of thing happens a
> lot, with birders from interstate seeing things and not reporting them
> because they assume they are common or easy to see. The second reason I can
> think of is potential sensitivity in terms of conservation or privacy.
> Think back to the Buff-breasted Sandpiper a few months back. It was on
> private land, and until birders had permission to go there, reporting the
> location would only have invited illegal behaviour. Similarly, reporting
> the nesting site of a rare parrot, or a rarity in an extremely sensitive
> habitat could be a bad idea. I think the idea of a rare bird alert, however
> it might look, is worth investigating, however I think a code of conduct
> would be needed.
>
> Regards,
> Chris
>
> ps. Colin there is a small breeding population of Regent Honeyeaters in the
> Durakai area, so they are not as unusual in QLD as you assume, but still a
> very weird bird for suburban Brisbane.
>
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 11:49 AM, Colin R <> wrote:
>
> > Hi Laurie et al
> >
> > This type of immediate communication between birders has often
> > been a discussion point among a group of us, one in particular
> > who carried a pager in the UK for this express purpose for many
> > years...
> > Because of Austalia's position and the general bird population
> > and lack of movement, i.e. no passage or major migration, I don't
> > think there is enough to justify the expense in setting up a
> > pager service. When you look at regular reports from the UK and
> > Ireland - every week there is a rarity of some description
> > somewhere and, particularly at this time of year, the possibility
> > of passage migrants dropping in from far distant places increases
> > dramatically.
> > I do, however, believe there is a case for establishing an
> > agreement to notify other birders when something unusual does
> > occur - for example the Oriental Plover last week. I took it upon
> > myself, on Stuart's request, to place emails on all the birding
> > sites I believed relevant and to txt a couple of birders with
> > whom I have a personal agreement. There may be others out there
> > who would be interested in a similar arrangement.
> > Unfortunately, not all lists appear to recognise the importance
> > of some species and so the 'news' can be overlooked or delayed.
> > This type of action also requires all participants to recognise
> > and agree to certain standards.
> > If I can be so bold as to use a couple of examples:
> > The Oriental plover was the first one of its kind in SE Qld
> > since, it appears, 1991 and so worthy, I believe, of nomination
> > to at least a Scarcity level. Most Qld birders may already have
> > seen the bird - in NT or Northern Qld,- but undoubtedly there
> > would be a number of SE Qld birders who would like to tick it off
> > their SE Qld lists.
> > Earlier this year a Regent's Honeyeater turned up at Anstead in
> > Brisbane's western suburbs. Again perhaps most Qld birders have
> > seen this species - in the Capertree valley in NSW probably - but
> > once again, they are very few and far between in SE Qld (maybe 2
> > records in the last 10 or 15 years?) so I would think this was of
> > major interest.
> > Another brilliant example was the Australian Bittern at Lake
> > Clarendon a few months ago - ditto the above.
> >
> > Having said that - birds such as Little Bronze Cuckoo, Great
> > Crested Grebe or the like - while they may be interesting and
> > nice to see are not what I would consider noteworthy in a system
> > such as this. An email to a birding list maybe, but as a txt to
> > be included on a rarity listing? I don't think so - remembering
> > this is just one person's opinion! Similarily Lewin's Rail,
> > Spotless Crake or Freckled Duck - they are all 'good' birds and
> > can be difficult to see in SE Qld, but are worthy of note as an
> > email to a birding list - but again, including them on a list of
> > rarities? I don't think so. On the other hand, in my opinion,
> > Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Native Hen and Swift Parrot are
> > all worthy of notice, and worthy of immediate communication to
> > other birders. They are all difficult to see in SE Qld and are
> > unlikely to hang around long.
> > So - setting the standard is the most difficult thing and is
> > exemplified in the current thinking on existing 'rarity'
> > listings.
> >
> > I would be interested to hear others thoughts on this somewhat
> > controversial subject... and we haven't even touched on the
> > 'twitcher' angle, which can get up some folk's noses! On that
> > subject just let me say - I like to see new birds, if you don't
> > that's cool.... but I do and I spend a lot of time observing and
> > recording local and common birds while looking for new ones or
> > birds out of their normal range. Would I drive hundreds of
> > kilometers to see a new bird? Probably, yes, having done the
> > Grey-headed Lapwing thing and the Lesser Yellowlegs trip (twice),
> > not sure I'd pay $1000 to fly to and from Broome but that's based
> > more on my financial situation rather than any moral principle.
> > If that doesn't sit well with you - then the whole concept of
> > alerting other birders to rarities local or otherwise is not for
> > you. That's cool too - but for those of you who are interested -
> > let's hear from you!
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Colin
> >
> > Brisbane
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:16 +1000, "L&L Knight"
> > <> wrote:
> > > http://www.birdforum.net/sightingsmap.php is an example of what
> > can
> > > be developed when there is a critical density of twitchers in a
> > region.
> > >
> > > Interestingly the categories are uncommon, scarcity, rarity and
> > mega-
> > > rarity. The current map shows 4 mega-rarities, which may
> > indicate
> > > that the scale might need to be re-calibrated.
> > >
> > > Regards, Laurie.
> > > ===============================
> > > www.birding-aus.org
> > > birding-aus.blogspot.com
> > >
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> > > ===============================
> > --
> > Colin Reid
> >
> > So many birds, so little time......
> >
> >
> > --
> > http://www.fastmail.fm - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service
> >
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