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Re: Long-billed Murrelet and CBC fees



Well -- true, I am skipping most of the CBCs this year. I'm paying just
$5 to Audubon this season, and that will be for the Alligator River CBC
this coming Sunday. If Audubon is going to quit priting the count book
with all counts, observers names, etc., and just send you ONE count
summary book no matter how many counts you go on, why should anyone have
to pay the $5 but once -- the first count they go on?? Why pay $30 for 6
counts (what I generally have done for about 30 years), when now all you
will get sent is a measly count sumary book?

But, Fussell thinks I would have seen the murrelet had I been on his
count. Probably not. I generally covered the ocean, especially the Fort
Macon bathhouse area, from 7-9 am. By 1 pm, I'm landbirding at Pine
Knolls Shores. 

JF made a cheap shot at me, but that's OK. It gives me a chance to
complain about the Audubon CBC fee policy. Maybe I can get more of you
to quit paying the $5 but only the first count you go on. Yes, it's only
$5, but that is for each count you go on, and it adds up after a while.
But, it's more about the principle. Clearly, Audubon will never go back
to publishing the full count book; counts can be read on-line on a
website, one at a time. But, the failure to change the count fee is the
concern here. Yes, they send everyone who goes on a count and pays $5 a
count summary book (it doesn't mention ANY counts by name, no observers,
etc.) I guess if you slightly changed your name every count you went on,
they might send you a count summary book for each count!

Harry LeGrand


John Fussell wrote:
> 
> At about 1pm on December 15, Eric Dean, Sharon Funderburk and Tommy Wade
> observed a Long-billed Murrelet off the swimming beach section of Fort
> Macon SP.  This was during the Morehead City Christmas Bird Count.
> Later in the afternoon, several other birders were unable to locate the
> bird.
> 
> Incidentally, Fort Macon is a portion of the area that Harry LeGrand
> usually covers on the Morehead CBC.  Unfortunately, Harry wasn't able to
> make the count this year--it was the boycotting thing.
> 
> John Fussell
> Morehead City, NC
> jfuss@clis.com
> 
> ---
> [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Cape Lookout Mail Server]

-- 
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
1615 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1615
(919) 715-8687 (work)
FAX: 919-715-3085
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net