M. Smith writes:
> > Donate it to Falcon Research Group or some other worthy organization.
>
> 'Donate it to Falcon Research Group *or* some worthy organization.'
>
> What is so worthy or great about FRG? I would like to hear a member's
> defense of this group.
> ...
> But the biggest peeve is the secrecy involving data (such
> as nesting records for Peregrine and Merlin). *Real* scientists are
> interested in expanding the knowledge base, not keeping things to
> themselves.

Well, it reminds me of a (French) story.
In the '40s, a guy published in a French Natural History Magazine some
of his bird notes. They contained a breeding evidence of a Peregrine
nesting on a small island off the coast of Brittany.
Two years after this was published, the guy went back to the island, and
found evidence (which kind, I don't remember) that the nest had been
robbed... After that, of course, he didn't publish such sensitive data any
more, and as a matter of fact, he had no mor sensitive data: this 1940 pair
is the last pair of Peregrines known to have bred in Brittany :-(

This case is still very vivid (even if most of today's birders were not
birders at that time) in Brittany, and more generally in France.
I know that many people think that Peregrines are nesting in Brittany
now (more and more observations in the breeding season), and some people
have been actively searching in the recent years.
The thing is, even if someone has already found a nest, we (i.e. the birders
community) don't know, and won't probably know only 2 or 3 years later.

Breeding informations for very rare species (_Falco peregrinus_, _Bubo bubo_,
_Grus grus_) in France are kept secret, and I think that is (maybe
unfortunately) justified.

I don't know anything about FRG, neither pro or cons, but I don't find
the secrecy of breeding data (i.e. sites) is enough to blame this
organization. FWIW.


> If tweets want to donate excess tee-shirt money, maybe it should go
> elsewhere (Nature Conservancy gets my vote), or maybe to Dan Victor for
> helping us get along!

Or if you really want to help a worthy cause, just reimburse me for
my US visa application, which I got 5 days too late to attend Tweeters
picnic :-)

Just kidding, I certainly think that this (hypothetical) excess of $$$
should go to preservation.


--
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A bird in the bush is better than two in the hand.

Serge Le Huitouze Intelligent Software Group
email: serge at cs.sfu.ca School of Computing Science
tel: (604) 291-5423 Simon Fraser University
fax: (604) 291-3045 Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6 CANADA
http://www.isg.sfu.ca/~serge/