Subject: Montlake Fill Website
Date: Jun 03 08:40:24 1998
From: Scott Hoskin - bludog at earthlink.net


This may be old news to some, but Stuart MacKay has set up a great web
site for checking on the birds of Montlake Fill. I have become quite
addicted to going and compiling counts for him to post on the site (even
more so since Saturday's American Avocet and Wilson's Phalarope). It is
amazing the diversity from day to day. As of now, Stuart and I are the
most frequent contributors to the site and obviously we can't go
everyday. So if you are out at the fill keep some notes as to the
species and the numbers and post them on the site (it is very easy). Or
check it from day to day to see what is going on there.
The scientists and researchers (I'm not one of them) will tell you that
a big contribution to the study of birds is made by the majority of us
casual birders who keep good notes in the field (or our yard for that
matter). The problem is that a lot of those notes go in to our filling
cabinets and no one doing research ever gets to see them. If more people
could do what Stuart has done with this Montlake web site (and we are
doing with Tweeters) for areas where they are - including backyards - I
think it could help bird study greatly. Anyhow - here is the web site
address:

http://www.shorebirds.org/montlake/index.html

Scott Hoskin
Seattle, WA
bludog at earthlink.net