Hi Tweets,

Gail Spitler wrote:

>I wonder if the "WHO" is the important piece of data. Are there not some
>excellent birders out there whose names would not be recognizable,
>especially by callers from afar? I think information about confirmation of
>the sighting might be more important.

I simply want to know what's happening with this bird. Is it still there,
yes or no? If not, when did it leave? What was the pattern of its occurrence
while it was being sighted? What age was it? What was it with, if anything?
The coverage of this highly rare species has so far been unusually sparse at
best.

My point is that, having *publicly* reported a sighting of a megararity
(First Canadian, only Second S of Alaska--I'd say that would qualify it for
that status) which has already caused some people to drive hundreds of miles
here--some through less-than-safe winter driving conditions, I'll point
out--it is incumbent on the reporting agency (not to mention simply a matter
of basic courtesy not to have people come from all over for nothing) to
maintain some kind of updated status on the thing until it's clearly vacated
the area. Anything less, in my opinion, is irresponsibly poor service to the
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)