Hi Tweets,

Thank you, John, for the work you did. One, maybe two loose ends, though.

John Chandler wrote:

>Soon after I started posting RBA reports at the beginning of the month,
>Michael Price sent me a very detailed message on the "right" way of doing
>RBA's on the Net. You may have noticed the changes in the layout of the
>messages during the first week.

I'm afraid this is not quite accurate--in fact, John is asserting the
precise opposite of what I suggested. I am taking the liberty of quoting
verbatim from my private post to John in mid-March:

>>There is no "right" way, only ways where you make it a.) easy for a reader
>>to see interesting sightings easily or b.) not easy, where he or she has to
>>search for it. (end quote)

I did go on to point out the usual conventions of Bird Alert posting and
suggested there were reasons for them.

>The RBA will not be posted to Tweeters in April as the next "voice of the
>Bird Alert" does not have a computer. I'm next scheduled for August.

The timing's a real shame: this is when all the northbound migrants flood
in. Perhaps next year the Vancouver (BC) Natural History Society can
schedule its 'Voice of the Bird Alert' rotation so that the person with the
computer can take the northbound migration shift. Parenthetically, this
hiatus in posting does point out one of the weaknesses of the rota system.

I'm curious: does any other Bird Alert in North America have a similar
system of rotation?

BTW, I'm still curious about that really early 'arrival' flock of 600-800
Western Sandpipers (WESA) at Boundary Bay on March 25. I've looked over
posted trip-lists from coastal locations and other Bird Alert postings
before, during and since, but this seems to be the only migrant group. Has
anyone else seen any Alternate-plumaged WESA yet? (migrant fresh or
Definitive Alt Dunlin seen at distance don't count '-)

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net