Hi, everyone,

I am happy to say that the BirdBox is up and working, at long last. Who
would have thought it would take two months to fix the flood damage?

I hope all of you will start using the BirdBox again, to hear about and
to report unusual birds. Some of you may think that the BirdBox is no
longer needed, now that we have Tweeters, but this isn't true. I know
this may be hard to believe, but not all birders have access to
computers. Not everyone with a computer subscribes to Tweeters.
Birders visiting from out of state depend on the BirdBox for recent
reports of rarities. Washington birders, on their own travels, call the
BirdBox from the field to find out if anything new has been seen, to
hear updates on birds already reported, and to report on the rarity they
just discovered. So, PLEASE, call the BirdBox with your reports!

As most of you know, the BirdBox software is old and prone to problems.
It sometimes has a hard time recognizing the signals from cell phones
and newer touch-tone phones. The WOS board is considering hiring
someone to rewrite the software, to bring the system up to date and make
the it easier to use. If you are, or know someone who is, a talented
programmer that might be interested in taking on this project, please
contact Brian Bell at bellasoc at isomedia.com. And, as always, please
contact me if you have problems with the BirdBox.

Rachel Lawson
BirdBox System Administrator