Lynn Willcockson, when I began birding in the 80's, was the voice on the DAILY telephone Rare Bird Alert. Daily might not seem special now, given the hourly alerts by e-Bird we now enjoy. When my business took me to different places, I was fortunate to spend weekends in such hotspots as Miami, Florida and McAllen, Texas. I would call the local RBA and hear the rarities as of a WEEK ago. In a HOTSPOT. Meeting other birders, I several times heard, "You are lucky, living in Denver. You have a DAILY report. We don't." And three times I heard, "You have the best RBA in the country."
At that time, Lynn listened to reports birders had phoned in to be tape-recorded. If I reported a bird that hadn't been seen north of Mexico, Lynn, or Dick Schottler, would call and ask, "Can you tell me more about that sighting?" With Cobirds and an exponential (there's that word again) increase in the amount of reports, the RBA compilers had a lot more work to do. And EARLIER.
We've evolved again to the up-to-date and filtered-by-area e-Bird. Yes, there are losses in progress, and I admit being slow to adapt, but we have much more information when we dig deeper into individual eBird reports. I'd like to add my thanks to all the compilers who brought us neophytes to the joy of birding. Also, remember Cobirds has many other advantages.
Larry Modesitt, Arvada
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
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