When the possible merger of Birds Australia and BOCA was being discussed a few
weeks ago, a couple people mentioned the future of the journal Australian Field
Ornithology.
I have not been a BOCA member for many years. It was only recently I realised
that it's possible to subscribe to AFO without being a BOCA member, and I did
so. More than any other journal in Australia, I think AFO should appeal to
birding-aus subscribers who want to learn more, and contribute to knowledge of
our birds. Many articles detailing records of rare birds are published; for
instance the current issue contains articles on the first records for Australia
of Asian Brown Flycatchers and Grey Nightjars. Other articles include a review
article on Black necked Storks by Greg Clancy, one on historic grasswren
records and observations on Red Goshawk biology. A couple of the articles are
available as free samples at
http://boca.org.au/about-boca/publications/australian-field-ornithology/current-issue
The future of AFO is in doubt, and the lack of subscribers is the main problem.
Fewer than 10% of BOCA's members subscribe to it, and I would encourage more
people to support it. Subscription for non members is $32 per year. Given the
decline in state based ornithological journals in recent years there is
arguably more need than ever to support this journal.
Hopefully if the organisations do merge, the increased membership could allow
the journal to become more viable. There is plenty of room for Emu, AFO and
either Wingspan or the Bird Observer. AFO does not compete with any of BA's
current publications. And even if the merger does not go ahead, I would hope
Birds Australia could offer subscriptions to AFO as an option to its members,
in order to encourage its survival.
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
=============================
|
