I'm pleased to announce the availability of a new, web-based
service for birders at http://donb.photo.net/rare-birds.

WHAT IS IT?

It should come as no surprise that the Rare Bird Alert Service
allows one to post information on rare and unusual bird sitings
in the PNW (OR/WA/ID only at the moment; BC folks might want
to e-mail me because I need some basic information regarding
your province).

The easiest way to get a feel for the site is to visit it.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions you might have
afterwards. I'm very open to suggestions and requests for
additional features, as well.

WHY USE THIS SERVICE RATHER THAN E-MAIL OBOL AND/OR TWEETERS?

For starters, this service isn't meant to replace the role of
mailing lists for distributing information about rare bird sitings,
but rather to supplement them.

One important feature that should make the intent clear: sitings
posted at http://donb.photo.net/rare-birds can optionally be
forwarded automatically by the software to OBOL and/or tweeters
(if you are subscribed to them). Data only need be entered once,
and the software e-mails rare bird alerts in a standard, easy
to recognize format.

The software offers other interesting features:

o You can have alerts posted to as many of your personal e-mail addresses
as you wish.
o The software provides an easy-to-use interface to turn off e-mail
notifications permanently, or while on vacation (with e-mail turned
back on automatically upon your return)
o Sitings are archived, permanently, backed up nightly. You can
read archived sitings at any time.
o Alerts are stored in a generalized database, which means that over
time interesting questions can be asked and the data analyzed
by members of the birding community.

KEEPING RARE BIRD INFORMATION ONLINE'S COOL. WHY NOT DO IT FOR
ALL BIRD SIGHTINGS?

Well, now that you mention it, that is the next step. As we
software engineers are fond of saying, that next step is 90%
complete.

Consider today's OBOL discussion on the distribution of gray
jays in the Oregon Coast Range. We've seen several posts
discussing anecdotal and more formal data on past sitings.

If such data were entered into a centralized database, we
wouldn't need to speculate, or to search our written or
computerized records and compare notes. Simple programs
could easily extract information from the database and
answer such questions for us.

I have a basic system in place for recording basic information
on bird sightings in the PNW, and it's being tested sporadically
by a couple of folks today, and I've been testing it by
experimentally adding data I've harvested from OBOL and
tweeters myself.

If you'd like to test it, all you need to do is register when
you visit the rare bird alert service, and you'll be authorized
to enter counts and checklists of plain old ordinary birds,
as well. You'll find that it's knowledge of geography's
largely limited to US States and Counties at the moment. That
will be changing soon.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

Computer technology's changing really fast. The site's built
on entirely free software (much of it written by me), a
Pentium 200 worth about $500, hooked up to the Internet with
a $30/month DSL line from US West. It sits under my dining
room table.

Five years ago, it would've been possible to program such
a site, but not on a budget. The complete database project I
envision would've taken a computer in the $10K range plus
internet service in the $500/month range five years ago,
just to build a prototype such as the one at
http://donb.photo.net/tweeterdom.

I'm interested in exploring just what can be done on a
tight budget. How well can a machine affordable by an
individual support a regional bird database? How
difficult is it to program a web interface that's usable
by the average birder? What kind of services can be
provided that would make the site interesting and useful
to the birding community (E-MAIL ME WITH ANY AND ALL
SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE!)?

IF I REGISTER USING MY E-MAIL ADDRESS, WON'T I GET SPAMMED?

No. You can read rare bird posts without registering, but can't
get the e-mail addresses of folks who've registered unless you
register yourself. This defeats those pesky spam robots that
run around looking for e-mail addresses to spam "make money
fast" or Nigerian scam mail.



- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net