Thanks to all who commented. As a long time birding-aus subscriber you
have comprehensively answered my question. It is perhaps because in
Canberra we have the 'canberrabirds' discussion forum (archives at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds) that
attempts to the fills both niches that I never saw the need to look
further than birding-aus for interstate information. Indeed in many cases
I thought that info posted to birding-aus was reposted on the local
birdline. I will read the birdline summaries more carefully each week.
Regards
Alastair
On 15/01/11 10:29 PM, "Paul G Dodd" <> wrote:
>The Birdlines and birding-aus all serve different purposes. The Birdlines
>are "...for the reporting of rare or unusual birds outside their normal
>range, unusually high or low numbers, early or late arrivals or departures
>for migrant species and interesting behaviour or unusual habitat usage."
>(quoting the site)
>
>Birding-aus is a discussion forum - in other words, a mechanism by which
>any
>topic, but hopefully Australian birds and birding related, can be
>discussed,
>with the discussion available to be participated in by everyone.
>
>The Birdlines cover Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, North Queensland,
>Central and Southern Queensland, the Northern Territory, Indonesia and
>Papua
>New Guinea. There is, in addition, a national Birdline covering rarities
>of
>national significance. A number of people, myself included, have attempted
>to have truly national Birdline coverage in the past, with the inclusion
>of
>South Australia, Western Australia and ACT. Personally, I believe that
>this
>would be highly beneficial. The Birdlines are designed to be a one-stop
>shop
>to see the rare and unusual sightings both in one's own state, and also in
>the other states and nationally.
>
>In its simplest form, a Birdline is simply a website with a chronological
>list of rare and unusual sightings - including the location of the
>sighting,
>the species seen, some detail of the sighting, and the observers. The
>sightings are moderated, although current practice is to allow "possible"
>sightings to be published early, to give potential observers as much of a
>heads-up as possible.
>
>To my mind, this means that the Birdlines are similar to Birds WA
>sightings
>page. Birdpedia is slightly different, but basically offers the same sort
>of
>information for South Australia. I believe that Canberra also has a web
>site
>for sightings.
>
>Birdlines are available as "feeds" for inclusion in websites. I believe
>that
>both bird-o and BOCA make use of these feeds. I have also turned these
>feeds
>into Twitter streams - in that way it is possible to be informed of the
>sighting the moment it is published on Birdline.
>
>I am also responsible for posting the weekly summary Birdlines to
>birding-aus. I don't believe that the Birdlines and birding-aus are
>mutually
>exclusive - and there is no reason why sightings should also not be be
>posted to birding-aus. I note that there are many subscribers to
>birding-aus
>that make use of these weekly Birdline postings. In fact, in around
>October
>of last year there was a technical glitch that prevented the posting for
>one
>week, and numerous people complained! I also note that Tim Dolby (one of
>the
>Victorian Birdline moderators) has the habit of reading birding-aus and
>posting Birdlines from sightings that are only recorded on birding-aus.
>
>One of the real benefits of the Birdlines is that all sightings are
>recorded
>in one logical, consistent and structured location. This makes searching
>for
>them so much easier. It is also much easier to look for sightings in one's
>own state and neighbourhood very simply. This is a technique Ruth and I
>made
>extensive use of last year when doing our VicTwitch.
>
>Birding-aus is a phenomenal resource for Australian birders, but as an
>email
>discussion forum and not a database, I think it is a long bow to draw to
>suggest it is the most suitable repository for bird sightings. For
>rarities,
>to my mind the national repository should be the Birdlines. For a national
>database of bird observations, Birds Australia's Birdata (the online
>atlas)
>is probably the resource, however I prefer to use the Eremaea sightings
>database (this is NOT the Birdline repository).
>
>Paul Dodd
>Docklands, Victoria
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From:
> On Behalf Of Frank O'Connor
>Sent: Saturday, 15 January 2011 8:37 PM
>To:
>Subject: [Birding-Aus] was (no subject) now eremaea v birding-aus
>
>
>A useful topic, that probably needs to be discussed annually for new
>subscribers to birding-aus.
>
>I would love birding-aus to be for the mega rarities, and as Dave
>Torr suggests use the Birdlines for the local rarities. This is the
>case with the WA sightings. If someone emailed me a very unusual
>sighting for WA, I would forward the details to birding-aus and to
>the birdswa email list (and put it on the Sightings web site). Alan
>Collins now looks after the Sightings web site, and I think that he
>would also do this, although as far as I can remember, all the major
>WA / Cocos / Christmas / Ashmore rarities have been posted to
>birding-aus by the observers, so there was no need for Alan to do it.
>
>As others have commented, it is easier just to look through the
>birding-aus archives, than it is to check four or five Birdlines.
>
>I am looking to come to Melbourne in a week or so to look for the
>Stilt Sandpiper, and so I would prefer that the sightings continued
>on birding-aus, but I do have a link to the Birdline just in case. I
>would also like failed attempts to find the bird to be reported,
>because of course it may move on, especially with all the rain around.
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
>Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
>
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