s30986u@kaira.hut.fi (Martin Helin) (09/28/89)
HI ALL BIRD WATCHERS IN THE NETLAND !
For a long time I've been aware of the existence of this group but
it wasn't until this month we began receiving it at my site. Thus
I'm not fully aware of what kind of readers follow this group.
Anyway, I would be very pleased to here that some of you (especially
in Europe) were interested in rarities in Europe (including vagrants
from North America and elsewhere, of course).
Please, let us all know what goes on in your country (Western Palearctic
only please unless you people out there in the U.S. want to have a
conversation of your own). Probably the best thing to do is to include
words 'Europe only' in the subject line unless you can avoid distribution
across the Atlantic in some other way. I'll try to distribute this only
to Europe but I don't know whether it is going to work (*.rec groups
are automatically distributed all over the net ?!).
For a start I can tell you that the most rare bird observed in Finland
this autumn is, by far, a Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) -
I hope I got the name right - a couple of days ago in the Western part
of Finland. A schoolboy found the bird on his way to school and thought
after succesfully identifying the species (sic !) that nobody's going
to believe him unless somebody else sees the bird.
That's how the twitchers got the word and the rumour says that
some 30 bird-watchers managed to see this 'cosmic mind-fucker' before
it was killed by a Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) in front of the eyes
of the horrified (or malicious, perhaps !) group of successful bird-
watchers.
It was the second observation in Finland of this African
species (some 4000 kilometers away from it's homegrounds) the first
being shot in the year 1893 - almost exactly 100 years ago. The first
observation was also made in th autumn, namely in October.
Martin Helin
Martin Helin Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Internet : mhe@otax.hut.fi UUCP : mhe@otax.UUCP
s30986u@kaira.hut.fi s30986u@kaira.UUCPsandra@pyrtech (Sandra Macika) (09/29/89)
In article <25572@santra.UUCP> s30986u@kaira.hut.fi (Martin Helin) writes: >HI ALL BIRD WATCHERS IN THE NETLAND ! > >Probably the best thing to do is to include >words 'Europe only' in the subject line unless you can avoid distribution >across the Atlantic in some other way. I'll try to distribute this only >to Europe but I don't know whether it is going to work (*.rec groups >are automatically distributed all over the net ?!). > I think you can use the distribution line in the header to limit distribution. The only codes I know are "na" for north america or "usa". Please don't use this though! I would love to hear about Birds in Europe. I think "Europe Only" in the subject line is the best idea for those who are not interested. Thanks, Sandra
sandee@loligo (Daan Sandee) (09/29/89)
In article <25572@santra.UUCP> s30986u@kaira.hut.fi (Martin Helin) writes: > >Anyway, I would be very pleased to here that some of you (especially >in Europe) were interested in rarities in Europe (including vagrants >from North America and elsewhere, of course). > As an expatriate European, I'm also interested in European rarities. So I hope you WON'T restrict your distribution to Europe only. As I'm sure you are aware, there are few Europeans on the net, and there is little hope there will be many more birders on. I know at least one other, but she doesn't have a USENET feed yet - she and I correspond by Email. >For a start I can tell you that the most rare bird observed in Finland >this autumn is, by far, a Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) - >I hope I got the name right - a couple of days ago in the Western part That's right. To American birders : it's about as rare as seeing a Greater Roadrunner in Labrador. >Martin Helin Helsinki University of Technology, Finland >Internet : mhe@otax.hut.fi UUCP : mhe@otax.UUCP > s30986u@kaira.hut.fi s30986u@kaira.UUCP Daan Sandee sandee@sun6.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 (904) 644-7045