Subject: [Tweeters] No more RBAs in Washington?
Date: Jan 30 18:29:22 2009
From: Penny Koyama - plkoyama at verizon.net


Wayne and Tweeters;
Travelling through Oregon to Calif. in Sept, we didn't find the OR RBA helpful, though we may have had old info. Our OR guidebook (Evanich) had a number for Portland Audubon, the people seemed confused, but on a second call, someone gave us Harry's phone no, which he answered in person. We tried to give a report on Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, which I guess must not have been very interesting! Perhaps there is newer info--that book was pretty old!

The no. we did find helpful was in Northern Calif. We spent a few days at Pt. Reyes and found this line invaluable. It seemed to be an "ordinary" answering machine system, as we had to listen to Deborah Shearwater's daily pelagic reports to get what we really wanted to hear, reports local to where we were staying. The most recent report was always first. We cashed in on the most amazing warbler migration as a result of using that line.

I agree with you--if you don't travel with a laptop, a "birdbox" type system is really helpful to the out-of-area birder. Perhaps WOS folks could check on that N CA line and see how they do it. I do know that our old BirdBox was a) a dinosaur and b) a nightmare!
Penny Koyama, Bothell
plkoyama at verizon.net

----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne Weber
To: TWEETERS
Cc: HARRY NEHLS ; RACHEL LAWSON ; BCBIRDS
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 12:42 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] No more RBAs in Washington?


Tweeters,



I understand that Seattle Audubon's BirdBox machine has finally packed it in, and I am not suggesting that further attempts be made to revive it. The last time it broke down, several years ago, I believe it took several weeks and a large amount of money to get it going again.



However-- does this mean the end of telephone RBAs in the state of Washington? I hope not. The only other RBAs that were operating in recent years and covered parts of Washington, in the Tri-cities and in Moscow, ID, both stopped operating a few years ago.



Oregon still has a statewide RBA (operated by Harry Nehls for the Audubon Society of Portland), and BC still has three telephone RBAs-- one in Vancouver, one in Victoria, and one in Nanaimo. I have been in overall charge of the one in Vancouver for the last 4 years, although we have usually had 3 people, taking turns, who do most of the work (thank you so much, Kevin Louth and Mark Wynja).



Because of the wide and easy accessibility of E-mail groups (e.g. Tweeters) and websites, some people seem to think that telephone RBAs are now unnecessary. I disagree. For local birders within Washington, they are perhaps less necessary, as most of us have access to computers and E-mail. However, the problem in making information about rare birds readily available is a big one for visiting birders from outside the state-at least, for those who don't carry laptops with them, or who stay in remote areas. It can also be a problem for Washington birders who are away from home for several days at a time.



For example, I don't own a laptop. When I make forays into Washington, if there is no telephone RBA, I will be cut off from any information about newly-discovered rare birds. One solution may be to visit "Internet Cafes", where for a small amount of money, one can surf the Internet and check Tweeters or other E-mail groups on Jack Siler's webpage ( www.birdingonthe.net ). However, on past trips into Washington and Oregon, I have had difficulty in finding Internet cafes-most of them aren't listed in local phone books, and even when they are, they seem to move or go out of business at an alarming rate.



I would like to suggest that an organization-preferably WOS, the Washington Ornithological Society-should consider setting up a statewide telephone (and online) RBA, to be updated once a week, similar to the RBA that Harry Nehls has run for so many years in Oregon (a huge thank you, Harry!!). As an alternative, perhaps WOS could try to maintain a list of Internet cafes at various locations throughout the state, post it on their website, and keep it up to date, so that visiting birders can check the recent archives of Tweeters, Inland-NW-Birders,

Whatcom Birds, BirdYak, etc.



There will definitely be something lost if there are no more telephone RBAs. Here in Vancouver, even though most sightings of rare birds are posted on E-mail groups within a day or less of the observation, I would say at least 30% or 40% of our sightings are reported by phone, by birders who either do not have E-mail, or prefer not to use it. Without a telephone RBA, we probably wouldn't even hear about some of those sightings.



I hope this message will stimulate some thought and discussion, and that Washington birders can come up with some alternative system of notifying birders about rare birds. If not, visiting birders from out of state will feel the loss more than local birders.



And while I'm at it, an enormous "thank you" to Phil Mattocks, Richard Russell, Hal Opperman, Rachel Lawson, and all the other birders who have given so freely of their time over the years to keep the Seattle RBA running.





Sincerely,



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net















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