Yes thank you Joe and all who contributed their time to keeping the RBA current, and easy to use. It was a concise summation of birds happening in our State. Even though I rarely chase any more, it was so helpful to know what was being seen around the State.
During the pandemic, I took it upon myself to become more familiar with eBird. I am getting better, but not so much as using it as a rare bird alert yet. I think things will fall through the cracks for me. If someone posts on our cobirds messages, I may see it. But if someone posts something in my area that is rare on eBird, I will likely not know about it until maybe weeks after. Guess I will hope folks will continue to use cobirds as a forum for bird observation and discussion. Changing times for sure...stay well friends. John Rawinski Monte Vista, CO On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 9:26:00 AM UTC-6, Joe Roller wrote: > > Daily updates on rare and interesting birds in Colorado have been shared > via Cobirds for over 14 years as the "Colorado Rare Bird Alert" (or > Report). For 13 years, Joyce Takamine tirelessly compiled this list of > rarities from all over the state, posting it with dates and places > on the Cobirds listserv and into your email inboxes. > > After Joyce retired at the end of 2018, a few of us continued to compile > the report. But our team of volunteers is no longer large enough to > continue this informational service, which has been sponsored for years by > the Denver Field Ornithologists. In the past we invited volunteers to join > the RBA team of compilers, but we are no longer seeking those, as the RBA > is over now. > > By way of history, the RBA continued the early notification work of > dedicated birders like Dave Martin, Norm Erthal and Dick Schottler, who > phoned in daily field updates to a DFO voice recorder. Local and visiting > birders could dial in to hear these daily messages and keep abreast of the > changing parade of rarities moving through Colorado. > > Even before that, DFO sponsored a "telephone tree" notification list in > the 1960s and '70s. Each birder in the tree would get a a call from an > excited birder up the list: "Hey! Bruce Webb found a Little Gull at Union > Reservoir today. First state record! Call the next two birders on the list > to let them know!" > > Before that? Perhaps birders used two tin cans and a string -- I don't > know. > > In any event, the joy of sharing goes back a long time and will continue > beyond the RBA. As many of you already know, eBird provides free updates of > Colorado rare bird sightings as frequently as hourly. (Sign up at > www.ebird.org/alerts) > > The CFO website has a section where bird reports appear the moment a > checklist is sent to eBird. (cfobirds.org) > > On behalf of the current team of RBA compilers, thank you for allowing us > to share the joy of discovery through the decades . . . and good birding! > > Joe Roller, Denver > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/cec31da6-0a35-4282-9bf7-a9542d4c903f%40googlegroups.com.
