Guy,

Is a little foresight and proaction too much to ask of birders? You sound a
lot like John Fitzpatrick of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology when he
played down the concern that western House Finches could be affected by
mycoplasmal conjunctivitis. In my response to him, published in The Wall
Street Journal on 29 January 2003, I warned of the possibility of an
outbreak in the West. In early 2004, the disease was spreading epidemically
in the Northwest.

If birders need evidence to spur them to action, then they might want to
give this a read. It's not my best work, but it should suffice.
http://www.lauraerickson.com/Birds/Conservation/JasonRogersArticle.doc

_ Regards,
( '< Jason Rogers
/ ) ) Banff, AB
//" " hawkowl at hotmail.com