Tweets,

Michael Price writes on the ongoing saga of RBA's:

> The confidence levels in not all but many if not most beginners is low
> enough that it takes remarkably little discouragement or frustration either
> to drive them into 'lone wolf' birding, of which this city has a large
> number,

Fair comment, there are some real doozers out there, but I don't think that is
particular to the Vancouver area. I have met some out-o-towners at Iona that
have been remarkably rude and short as well. I think we would all agree these
people are of the minority in our field of interest and for the most part, most
of us will take opportunity to help others ID the bird they have seen and are
rapidly trying to find in the field guide. At least I hope this is the case.

> During my tenure as
> operator of the Vancouver BC RBA, so many new and middlin' birders
> complained of local elitism and exclusion that I made it a point to make it
> easy for them to report stuff and would spend long periods on the phone with
> them going through ID recognition techniques and ID pitfalls that in a less
> status-driven and more sharing environment they would have learned in the field

And Tweets, dats da truth. Not may years ago, I would hesitantly call what I
perceived as notable sightings into the tape and Michael would invarialby return
the call to discuss my sighting. Regardless of the bird (of which some were your
garden variety species) Michael would spend a great deal of *his* time
painstakingly walking me through ID's of the more likely species, all along
letting me feel comfortable in asking novice questions that had to be asked. On
Michaels encouragement alone, my son, Kris and I have enjoyed 100's of hours in
the field, and travelled to many new places in pursuit of our new found passion.

After Michael was no longer operating the tape, we still called in our sightings
in hopes of a return call to further discuss the bird with someone in a respected
position in an effort to improve our capabilities. Not once have any of the
subsequent operators taken their time to return the call to verify the sighting.
This is, IMHO, unfortunate simply because without a call back many people new to
this field of interest may miss out on continuing their fledging interest in our
great passion.

Ken Klimko
Richmond, BC