Good evening all:
First, as I promised after tonight's City Council meeting, I can tell you the
species count for last Saturday's Coquille Valley CBC with six of eleven feeder
counters in stands at 147, one below our average for the 18 counts and three
below our target of 150. I do not have species highlights for you because of
the following below.
A number of leaders in Oregon's birding community have been working all day on
a joint statement from all of Oregon's Audubon chapters and the Oregon Birding
Association on the Malheur situation. It started with a beautifully crafted
piece by Audubon of Portland that many of you may have seen. The attempt is to
broaden it as a statement from all of the birding community. That will be
forthcoming and posted on many Audubon sites as well as our own at the Oregon
Birding Association.
There are a variety of forums available to us to discuss and vent about all
that is happening in Malheur. That includes our own Oregon Birding Association
Facebook page that all of you can access through Facebook. I am saddened that
our moderator appears to be the target of some frustration that all of us have
with this tragic event. She is simply carrying out a policy set by our Board
some years ago and that is to make this an alert site for birders in Oregon as
to what is being seen and where. That is its purpose, that's why it was created
and why we are maintaining it.
That policy was put in place to avoid exactly what the present string has
deteriorated into: someone asking someone else to cease and desist and still
another person asking that someone else get off of OBOL all together. That's
what happens when you create a completely open public forum on the internet
with no holds barred to discuss whatever you want as it vaguely relates in
anyway to birding. OBOL was not created for that purpose.
Tim Blount has offered how you can be of help to what's is happening in
Malheur. He and AlanContreras have reported on everyone's safety. Those who
want to take a stand should touch base with their local Audubon chapter and OBA
sites over the next several days (hopefully not the next several months).
Harv Schubothe
Bandon
