Hi Tweets,

John Chandler writes:

>In a recent post Mike

Umm, it's 'Michael', actually.

>Price expressed concerns about the level of service
>provided by the Vancouver RBA. I'm interested in what the rest of you
>think.

I'll invite myself to the party, as Mike Force and I are the only two people
in Vancouver BC with extensive and detailed experience in running a Bird
Alert and I don't know if he's in town.

So, first, John, I appreciate your solicitation of thought, opinion and
comment, and applaud your implied intention to listen.

>Do you see any value in having the Vancouver RBA scripts posted to
>Tweeters?

Unfortunately, this is a leading, unqualified and open-ended question with
an obvious answer. Who could say no, when phrased like this?

Any posting of any information which furthers the interests of birding is
valuable. Posting the Vancouver BC (perhaps tiresome to keep doing this, I
know, but this constant iteration of 'BC' is necessary for most Tweetsters,
as an unspecified Vancouver automatically means Vancouver WA: this is why I
have always included it) RBA in particular is intrinsically useful to give
information about one of the richest birding areas in North America.

>Do you enjoy reading them?

Again, who could say no when put like this? A more objective survey question
would have been: How would you rate them? and then perhaps give a 1-10 set
of criteria from least to most, and a series of qualities and services to
rate--ie, reliability, timeliness, accuracy, delivery, friendliness, and so on.

>Should the posts be continued?

Who's going to say no? There's no sensible reason to cease posting. Besides,
whether you post the Vancouver BC RBA is an internal decision strictly
dependent on whether the VNHS authorises you to do so. This allows no
comment by outsiders

At this point, I'll ask the next logical questions:

Could we do it better?

Yes.

How?

First, if you are to post at all, I would encourage the VNHS to do so
regularly--whether daily or weekly---rather than sporadically. If the
current operator in the four-person rotation is unwilling to do it, note
that the historical solution to this is that many an RBA has a different
person posting than operating. A regular transcriber is the answer to the
frequent gaps in service (I use that word deliberately: you are providing an
informational service to the regional birding community; to provide service
*well* needs a conscious decision, critical judgement and explicit ongoing
commitment), one who posts each update after being given the transcript of
that update.

I'd suggest that the compilers take more time to provide as detailed
directions as possible. Here is a typical section of the Vancouver RBA (Jan 08):

>The RUSTY BLACKBIRD was located again today in The Cora Brown subdivision
>on Sea Island and the PALM WARBLER was at the eastern end of Iona Island.
>A CLARK'S GREBE was seen near the Dinsmore Bridge and the WESTERN TANAGER
>was again at a feeder in north Burnaby.

Greater Vancouver BC is comprised of some fifteen separate municipalities
and is one of the most sprawling cities on the continent, roughly 50 km by
60 km and growing by the day. How is someone unfamiliar with the Greater
Vancouver BC area to locate any one these birds? By calling one of the
people whose numbers are given at the end of the transript? This means the
VNHS through it Bird Alert is using the Internet to tell people they need to
phone someone who may or may not be home for the details of how to find
them, often a long distance charge for Tweetsters. And it's a charge they'll
pay if someone's voicemail answers. Look again at the above. Which
municipalities are these sighting in? How would one get there? Once there,
what are the landmarks? As closely as possible, where does the bird usually
spend its time? An RBA, in my opinion, should make it as easy as possible
for those without access to word-of-mouth to find the birds; to refer people
to another layer of government, so to speak, is self-defeating. Why post at
all? Rather than a service, an RBA run thus is simply announcement.

Then the natural question arises: who is the RBA for, in that case? The
person sighting the bird, the posting organisation, or the person who might
want to see it but is not part of Vancouver BC's birding community with all
its inside knowledge? If the first two, directions will likely be sketchy;
if the latter, detailed as possible. So why not put the locating details in
the RBA post in the first place and save people the inconvenience and cost
of needing to make a follow-up phone call?

Incidentally, for those who don't live in Vancouver BC, the area code for
these numbers is (604) xxx-xxxx.

There are those who would say it's too much work, too much information to
compile. I disagree. I'd submit from personal experience that detailed
directions are just one part of the duties of doing a conscientiously-run
Alert, and can be done, even on a daily basis.

Well, here is a small example copied from the excellent and
exhaustively-detailed Southern California RBA, an RBA put together by *one*
person (the VNHS uses four to run its Alert), a small excerpt (the usual
*daily* transcript is usually about 15-17 screens long):

>Lake Forest: Saturday, January 10th. Tom Worster reports that the continuing
>DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER (Myiarchus tuberculifer) was seen and was quite vocal
>at dusk. From Interstate 5, take Lake Forest Dr northeast to Trabuco Rd.
>Turn left, then right on to Peachwood. Turn right on Palmwood, right on
>Autumnwood, to Forestwood. Access Serrano Creek from Forestwood, the bird was
>in eucalyptus across the creek there.

> ##### SAN DIEGO COUNTY
>Mouth of the Tijuana River: Sunday, January 11th. The San Diego RBA reports
>that the TRICOLORED HERON (Egretta tricolor) and LITTLE BLUE HERON (Egretta
>caerulea) were seen. Take Interstate 5 to Coronado Ave. west to Sea Coast
>Dr., south to the end. Park and walk south to the river mouth. You can also
>turn left on 5th St from Coronado Ave.and park in the small lot at the end.
>Take trails south and then west to the river mouth area.
>
>Solana Beach: Saturday, January 10th. The San Diego RBA reports that the very
>vocal female BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD (Cynanthus latirostris) continued. It
>is about 5 minutes walk in on the San Elijo Lagoon Trail where it begins at El
>Camino Real. The bird has been around a very muddy spot on the trail, where
>boards have been laid across the mud. Take Lomas Santa Fe (S8) east from I 5,
>then left on El Camino Real to the trail.

I could drive there (had I a car) and have a good chance to find those birds
just from these directions without needing to call anyone in the area.
One-stop shopping.

I'd encourage the four operators of the Vancouver BC Alert to examine
BIRDWEST RBA's (or have the one or two with online access to print out a few
days' worth), particularly--in my educated opinion--the California RBA's, to
see how conventional listing syntax works, how information may be better
organised and presented, and to adapt what they see as useful improvements
to their own Alert.

Anything else?

Yes. Don't wait passively for sightings to come to you: call around to see
what's going on: surprising details sometimes emerge you'd never have heard
about if you hadn't taken the time and energy and interest to call. Try not
to make the mountain come to Mohammmed.

Anything else?

Yes. There's no way to say this nicely, so I'll say it straight: a number of
people have complained to me privately about snotty brushoffs of the 'You
can't *possibly* have seen that' type when they've called your RBA to
contribute sightings of rarities. May I suggest that you review your
interrogatory procedures with your rota and re-assert not only that cautious
analysis of a sighting and prior scepticism of its validity are
non-synonymous but that an alienating arrogance does nothing good but much
harm to serve the people for whom you are theoretically doing this. Even if
after trying to discover what the observer actually saw, it ensues that the
person is mistaken, he or she is entitled to retain dignity.

More positively, one of the roles the RBA can take is the encouragement of
entry-level to intermediate birders to contribute.

Anything *else*.

Yes. Posting an unedited verbatim transcript in which the post includes
three or four repetitions of the same bird through the week eats bandwidth,
besides being redundant; one mention giving term of stay would suffice.
Again, I think seeing how other RBA's handle this would be useful to you.

And finally?

I'd posit that there is no 'finally'. Quality service provision (a jargon
term, but one of the more useful ones) is one of those things which, once
begun properly, will leave you unsatisfied with a bare-minimum routine, and
will have you constantly on the search for improvement, though these things
should remain constant: reliability, integrity, competence, accountability,
critical judgement and courage (resisting attempted browbeating by an
aggressive hardcore lister over an doubtful sighting is not for the faint of
heart), foresight, honesty, accessibility, community. I applaud your start.

Actually, John, there is one more 'finally', a personal one. Over two years
later, I will admit to still having strong feelings of pain, anger and
betrayal at my shockingly precipitous and sudden removal--effectively an
out-of-the-blue dismissal--from the operation of the Vancouver BC Alert even
though by the VNHS's own admission, and the comments of local birders and
travellers, I had taken the quality of service and record-keeping (first
Canadian RBA ever posted online--and not doing that more regularly was one
thing I regret not doing--among other innovations; "immaculate
record-keeping" was the phrase used by one executive member examining the
operational principles of the Alert) to unprecedented heights of
effectiveness and popularity. It would might--*might*--help to abate some of
my still-powerful and obvious pain and bafflement if you or someone else
from the Vancouver Natural History Society were to tell me, either publicly
or privately but in entirety *and with complete candor and honesty*, not the
glib official version, but the *actual* reason or reasons why with
completely clandestine planning, without warning and without dignity it
truncated one of the most popular and competently-run aspects of Vancouver
BC's birding community, and replaced it with a world-unprecedented
four-person rotation which to varying extents is still clearly finding its
feet over two years later.

Thank you for asking for input from the larger community, John, for taking a
salutary step to making a better Vancouver BC RBA. I understand it took
courage do so and I regret--though do not retract--the context in which it
occurs. I hope this is only the first time of many that you re-evaluate the
effectiveness of your service; doing so can only result in excellence and an
eventually healthier birding community.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)