One of the drawbacks of a telephone-based information-sharing system
like the Washington BirdBox is that you have to use the telephone to get
to it. And that means a toll charge for all those who live outside the
call-free area (Seattle and the greater Eastside).

For those wishing to check the latest information -- and provided they are
online -- we have been posting transcripts to tweeters relatively
frequently. A weekly summary of BirdBox calls is also posted to birdwest.

But this doesn't help the active field observers who live outside the
call-free area and wish to report interesting sightings. We can be
grateful to the many fine birders who go to the expense of calling their
birds in anyway, for the benefit of all the rest of us across the state.

Several operators of rare bird alerts in other states, including voice
mailboxes such as the BirdBox, offer networked birders the possibility of
sending in their reports by email, thus avoiding a long-distance call.
I'm interested in determining how many folks in Washington would take
advantage of such an opportunity.

I'd like to propose a trial period. If you have something to report and
want to give it a try, send me an email message at the address below,
giving the verbatim text you'd like recorded on the BirdBox. I'll then
read it in at the earliest opportunity, prefaced with words such as "This
is an email message from Mary Q. Birder in Goldendale, telephone
509-555-5555."

Another great advantage would be that we'd have your written message in
hand, and nobody would have to transcribe it from the recorded BirdBox
message. Time saved, and no more misunderstood expressions (toilet house
for pilot house is one I vividly remember) or unfamilar names misspelled.

Not all BirdBox users are on the internet. And not all internet-connected
birders are on tweeters. But this seems like a good way to get the offer
out to a core sample of potentially interested folks. The goal is to
improve communications, however incrementally. So, you be the guinea
fowl. Let's hear what you think.

Hal Opperman
Washington BirdBox System Administrator
halop at u.washington.edu
phone 206-635-0503