All,
If you are not a Northern Virginia birder, to keep from being bored
to tears, consider closing this mail and moving on to the next piece
of mail in your mailbox. I appreciate your patience.
Calendar reminders with time sensitive dates:
Kurt Gaskill is still looking for volunteers to survey selected
Fairfax County venues on May 6. Reservations required. See the May 6
Fairfax Spring Count calendar entry for additional details and
contact information.
Reservations for the May 7 ASNV Twin Branches Walk should be made no
later than May 4. See the May 7 ASNV Twin Branches calendar entry for
additional details and contact information.
Reservations for the Birds of Western Maryland Field Trip must be
made by May 30th. Payment for this trip is also due by this date.
This trip is sponsored by Riverbend Park and The FCPA. See the June 8
Birds of Western Maryland calendar entry for additional details and
contact information.
Calendar Enhancements & Outstanding Issues:
I have received a lot of off line mail regarding this calendar
project. If you wrote with specific suggestions for calendar
enhancements, I responded to you directly. I have been unable to
respond to all who wrote to say something positive about this project
in general. I do appreciate the kind words and encouragement though.
A few people wrote to suggest that I include addresses and driving
directions to venues in calendar entries. I have done this, where
possible.
Some wrote to suggest that I include web links to clubs and groups in
the calendar. The calendar program I am using will not allow me to do
this. But, the link to the calendar appears on the Clubs and Walks
page of the Birding Northern Virginia web site. This page does
include links and contact information for the NVBC, ASNV, ANS, VSO,
and selected venues in the metropolitan area. Any venue posted to the
calendar will eventually be listed on the Venues page of the Birding
Northern Virginia web site.
One person wrote to ask that I think about adding some type of Google
Maps feature to either the Birding Northern Virginia site or its
calendar. This is a great idea, and I will be discussing this with
others shortly. In the meantime, I have added a link to Map Quest to
the Birding Northern Virginia web site.
A number of individual park venues have expressed an interest in
having their own birding related events posted to the calendar. These
events will be posted as I receive them.
I began testing the calendar's subscription feature this past
weekend. When I am satisfied that it works properly, I will publish a
set of directions for those who wish to subscribe to the calendar.
Finally, I am aware of some concern arising from the fact I have been
posting certain local walks as being events that "require no prior
reservations." I understand some feel that this might somehow erode
club revenues by making it possible for others to attend walks
without actually becoming dues paying members of a club or group.
My Birding Northern Virginia web site is an attempt to describe our
birding community for people I meet when I am out birding, including
people who express an interest in birding, new birders, and people
who may be veteran birders but who are new to Northern Virginia. This
site is not sponsored by any club, group, or enterprise. I do not
belong to any of the clubs or groups discussed on my site. But, if
you bird with me, you know that I am always referring people I meet
to local bird clubs and groups. My site is an effort to continue and
to expand this outreach effort. Among other things, the calendar is
an effort to demonstrate the depth of this community because, so far
as I am concerned, this community is larger than any one single club
or group.
I understand that reservations are required for most club and group
field trips, day trips, and for even some local bird walks. These
events are posted to the calendar as events that require prior
reservations. But for most generic, local, bird walks, especially
those that have been advertised as being open walks, these events are
in fact being posted as "reservations not required" events.
The notion that an out of town birder who happens not to belong to
the correct club or group might be turned away from a local bird walk
simply because he or she learned of a local walk from an online
calendar is troubling. The idea that an online birding calendar is
somehow going to trigger an avalanche of free loaders attending local
bird walks simply because certain walks were listed on an online as
calendar is equally troubling.
Frankly, I often hear a lot of talk about the precipitously low and/
or declining rates of club and group membership, along with a lot of
discussion about the need to grow memberships proactively. Allow me
to suggest that most strangers showing up for local walks are
probably potential club members, not freeloaders looking for an
opportunity to beat a local club or group out of a bird walk.
I certainly do not make club or group policy, but it seems to me that
most local bird walks represent an opportunity for clubs and groups
to practice a little outreach. I cannot imagine a scenario where a
prospective club member would be denied the opportunity to join a
local walk simply because they learned of a walk through the agency
of an online calendar. And, as I have previously noted, the idea that
an online calendar is going to create a climate where hordes of
freeloaders are going to drive local clubs and groups into insolvency
is troubling in the extreme. With this kind of thinking, it is pretty
easy to see why it may be that some local clubs are having difficulty
attracting new members.
Nevertheless, please contact me if any open event has been posted to
the calendar incorrectly. I will be more than happy to edit the
offending calendar entry so that the event will be listed as a
members only event.
Constructive comments should be sent to me directly. As always, I am
not looking for an opportunity to begin the thread of a larger
conversation on VA Bird. I am especially interested in hearing about
new ways an online calendar might be used. Find the online Northern
Virginia Birding Calendar on the Clubs & Walks page at
www.homepage.mac.com/pmkane. I am currently building the June and
July 06 calendars.
Paul Kane
Falls Church, VA
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