It's been a while but I have a good reason for not updating my blog. I'm sure I have one or two birds hiding somewhere in my files eager to be posted here.
That have to wait tho. There's an important message I would like to share with everyone here. I'm sure we could learn and perhaps share and put into practice one or two pointers what this man has got to say. A well-known expert, please read on to what Mr. Dave wrote to me/us earlier...
P/s: You can find him here
Hi Jordan
An interesting post, and kudos to you for bringing it up!
I am in full agreement with you that we can't afford to divide the birding world between 'birders' and 'bird photographers'. For one thing, there are too few of us, so we should unite! For another, I truly believe that both have something valuable to contribute, and that we actually need each other, and the birds need us all!
As you mention, the key is to share what we learn, whether that is in the form of photos, sound recordings, videos or field notes.
In this regard, I wish to make a plea, specifically to all of you bird bloggers out there! It would really help to make your sharing much more valuable to others if you could add the DATE and LOCATION for all your photos. If you do that, it means that the photo can go down as a record of what was seen. For example, if you post a picture of - let's say - a Ruff, with the caption "I saw this the other day". That can only go down as "a Ruff somewhere in Sabah, sometime in the last few months."! Just the addition of a few words - eg "Penampang, 16th April" can make a huge difference! Over time, as we keep a record of what occurs and when, we can begin to understand patterns of occurrence, when's the best time to go look for a certain species, where are the best places to search, etc, etc.
So - bloggers - please keep sharing your fabulous photos, and keep up the great work of sharing your knowledge, and just remember to add...date and location!
Thanks
Dave
June 20, 2011 10:21 AM
Here's a quote from a report on the 2011 IUCN/BirdLife Red List:
“In the space of a year another 13 bird species have moved into the threatened categories”, said Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Director, IUCN Global Species Programme. “This is a disturbing trend; however the figure would be much worse if conservation initiatives were not in place. The information collected by the BirdLife Partnership is crucial in helping us to continue improving conservation efforts. This is now more important than ever as the biodiversity crisis is already affecting our wellbeing and will continue to do so unless we do more to stop it.”
Note this sentence: "The information collected by the BirdLife Partnership is crucial in helping us to continue improving conservation efforts."
One simple and direct way we can all help do something to protect the birds we enjoy is by submitting records of our sightings to: http://www.worldbirds.org/v3/malaysia.php
Thanks
Dave
June 23, 2011 10:04 AM
PS Here's the link to the BirdLife article: http://www.birdlife.org/community/2011/06/big-birds-lose-out-in-a-crowded-world/
June 23, 2011 10:05 AM