We have taken the liberty of cutting and pasting the following message from the Iowa Listserv. This message is completely applicable to this MOU listserv. Everywhere you read the word Iowa please insert the word Minnesota. How many people went to Mountain Lake today to look at a 5th state record Green-tailed Towhee and only one mentioned in passing that the bird was seen but no information was posted as to the times of day, etc? What else have birders been seeing this winter? We know of at least one active birder who regularily reads this list and uses the information but has posted to the list only once this year.
Dennis and Barbara Martin [email protected] Birders- As some of you have noticed, the three of us recently took a break from regularly posting to IA-Bird. This was for several reasons, which we highlight below. To begin the New Year, we'd like to share our views on this listserv, offer a few suggestions for how it can better meet the needs of its wide audience, and try (once again) to convince the non-believers that IA-Bird will only work if you CONTRIBUTE INFORMATION. The reasons: 1. A misunderstanding by some about the purpose of this list. Some believe that this list should only be for rare birds - we couldn't disagree more! We enjoy reading reports about rare birds, just like many of you do, but are as or more interested in reading reports of less rare species. For example, we find daily counts of warblers at site A or of shorebirds at site B extremely interesting. Such reports paint a broader picture of the birdlife of Iowa, and offer an important context in which we enjoy searching for rarities. 2. A general lack of posting by some birders. This is certainly apparent here in central Iowa, where we routinely encounter other birders but seldom read their posts on IA-Bird. Sadly, the motivation for many of these birders was provided by our posts! 3. Failing to post the results of a chase. We frequently encounter other birders who are following up on reports of rarities gleaned from IA-Bird. Many chasers are courteous and promptly post the results of their chase to this list, regardless of the result. We appreciate such reports! Others, however, simply glean the information for their own use and don't bother to share their results with the rest of us. We believe such actions are discourteous. If you have the time to read a post about an unusual bird that you later chase, then you should have (or make!) time to later post the results to the list. We are fully aware that no one is perfect, and we certainly don't expect everyone to change. But if you enjoy reading and using the information you glean from this list, then we believe you have a responsibility to reciprocate. We know that many of you enjoyed reading our regular reports from Saylorville early last fall. Why, then, would you think that others wouldn't enjoy reading similar regular reports from your favorite birding spot? In summary, we believe that reciprocation should come in the form of 1) regular posts of common birds, 2) timely reports of rarities, and 3) updates on birds that you chase as a result of being a member of IA-Bird. Some birders are already doing a great job while others need to step up. And we all need to realize that the life of this list depends on information about birds in Iowa, so please - contribute! To start the year on a positive note, we offer this report. Last night we checked the gull roost at Saylorville (~13,000 birds) and found 2+ Thayer's, 4 Lesser Black-backed (1 of each age class!), 1 juvenile Glaucous, and the previously reported juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake. The 4 Killdeer are still present at the Polk City W.A. (this is pretty remarkable for central Iowa in January) and there was a smattering of other waterfowl species mixed in with the Mallard and Common Merganser flocks at Saylorville. Steve Dinsmore Aaron Brees Jay Gilliam Stephen J. Dinsmore Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management 339 Science II, Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 515-294-1348 (office) cootjr AT iastate.edu http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cootjr/
