Hi Norm: I am trying to learn eBird. It seems to me that on rare species, there is a delay until someone doing quality control, gives it approval. It happened to me on a number of rarities here in the San Luis Valley...like the Scarlet Tanager we also had here. So if someones sighting goes into a "hopper" then even if those birders posted it to eBird, it may not be on the next alert. I have heard there was quite a backlog of rare sightings needing approval. It makes me question how good eBird will be as a RBA kind of tool.
John Rawinski Monte Vista, CO On Saturday, May 30, 2020 at 11:37:44 AM UTC-6, birdernorm wrote: > > I, too, would like to thank the originators and compilers of the RBA from > over the years. I have checked it virtually every day that I have been in > town for years. Thanks again for all your efforts. I will miss it. > > Now for the suggestion: since the RBA is kaput, and there are lots of > folks who do not care to manipulate their way through eBird (which is not > that tough, by the way), it would be nice if those observing a rarity in > the field, particularly one that is within easy reach of other birders, to > post it from the location. I have eBird alerts running for numerous > counties, but I don't get those reports until the next day. My only > immediate access to interesting sightings is Cobirds. There have been > several instances recently when an unusual species appeared but no one > informed the birding community at large. For example, a scarlet tanager > was recently seen at Harriman Lake, just a few minutes from my house. > There were fifteen eBird reports filed, which means there were no doubt > twice that many observers, yet no one took a moment to post the bird to > Cobirds. I found out about the bird the next day, and it was a one-day > wonder. Either I missed any reports, or I don't have many friends. > Perhaps both. But at any rate, it would have been nice to have had a > chance to pop over there for a look. > > Just my two cents. As they say about the pandemic, we're all in this > together, and I have always found that one of the great joys of birding is > the sharing of birds with others who like them just as much as I do. > > Norm Lewis > Lakewood > > > -----Original Message----- > From: 'Andrews Robert' via Colorado Birds <[email protected] > <javascript:>> > To: Colorado Birds <[email protected] <javascript:>>; Joe Roller < > [email protected] <javascript:>> > Sent: Fri, May 29, 2020 4:09 am > Subject: Re: [cobirds] Rest in Peace, COLORADO RARE BIRD ALERT! > > Hello all, > I would like to join others in showing appreciation for the compilers of > the RBA we see on Cobirds. Since I spend most of the year thousands of > miles away from Colorado in West Africa, I don’t get any direct use of the > RBA for birding. But I did enjoy seeing a compilation of the most > interesting or unusual bird sightings from Colorado as a way to keep up > with what is happening in Colorado. Many thanks to Joyce and then Joe and > his team of volunteers and all of the other compilers who have provided > this service. > Bob Andrews > Yekepa, Nimba Co., Liberia, West Africa > > > On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, 09:26:03 AM MDT, Joe Roller <[email protected] > <javascript:>> 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] <javascript:>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUB_zBCS3mmZrKb8G9%2B%2BETDA2p2LG2dUN2XA0JbyMAWcmA%40mail.gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUB_zBCS3mmZrKb8G9%252B%252BETDA2p2LG2dUN2XA0JbyMAWcmA%2540mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- > 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] <javascript:>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/1280995345.1036921.1590746973510%40mail.yahoo.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/1280995345.1036921.1590746973510%2540mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. 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