On the Wing #13: Bird Observer

Alpha code. Date Seen. Location. # Seen. Name of Observer. Repeat.
This has been my progress since meeting with Marjorie Rines of Bird Observer magazine yesterday afternoon. The task is to assist in the creation of additional BO records that are dated pre-1994 (which they have records for already). Seems simple, right? However, I've been at this for two hours and I've only just broken into the herons. It's extremely tedious, but building a database always is, and I know I'll be pleased with the end product, but still know there's a long way to go.

I got to this point by making the rounds on the jobs sites as well as emailing various bodies that might consider my work on these fledgling blogs of mine. After contacting BO by mentioning my blogs and prior authorship in the magazine, I was contacted by Ms. Rines and we set up a meeting at her house. (If any of you have the August 2000 edition of BO, there's an article in there detailing the life history of the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). This was a piece dictated by myself and written up by my father and is a point of pride for me today.) The woman I met yesterday was driven, crazy for birds, and a bibliophile! I love fellow bibliophiles! We chatted about the bones of the project which would be long hours and days (I have no job, so its a good thing to do in the day when I'm not birding or begging for employment.) of typing in seemingly endless data points for number of birds seen, species seen, location seen etc. I gladly accepted since I want to do my part to help out but I also want to be able to go the potential employer and say "I wasn't idle through the fall. To the contrary, I've been quite busy with...." We also discussed what birds I was still looking to see for my life list, what places I might try birding for those species, and what the local birding clubs might be doing in the area. We also discussed books which included many old works by William Brewster, Ludlow Griscom, Edward Howe Forbush, and a few others. It was a delight to talk with a fellow birder who is much more knowledgeable about the general area than I was, yet was so kind to let me in on these many popular areas for birders that were so close to home.

Hopefully I can complete at least Loons through Doves through the weekend and have my work checked for consistency. I'm really excited by this and I hope I can write something for them soon. Perhaps something from here, but we'll have to see on that one. Happy birding! ^_^

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