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
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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