<html><head></head><body><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Hi all,</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">I find it dispiriting to open the Tweeters digest and see only one or two posts. Is my chosen sport dying?. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">If a rare bird is found, only a few public-spirited individuals (who I applaud) bother to tell Tweeters anymore, most of us bird-chasers have migrated to e-bird or even What's ap for real-time bird sightings info. But WA-only rare bird sightings posts are more or less the only type of post on Tweeters (other than equipment-sales) that are specified as legal. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">(The regular reports from Marymoor and, Nisqually as well as other periodic reports from such places as Joint Base now form the backbone of Tweeter's repeating content and as such do a wonderful job but there could be more flesh on the bones).</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">A type of post that could give Tweeters new life and new relevance would be trip reports from outside Washington, a particularly great example was David' Cook's recent excellent report on his trip to Colombia, from which I learned things I did not know. A post like that would be of crucial interest to anyone planning a trip there. But it is time to think of Birding not just as a participatory-sport but as a spectator-sport as well, just like Football and Baseball. People who are not in a position to go to Colombia right now (such as me) might be thrilled to scroll through a blog post with pictures of the birds and the trip, and happy to bookmark the information for future use. Think of it like people who can't go down to Century Link Stadium on a given night might still want to watch the Mariners on TV. It's the same phenomenon.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">And Tweeters can be part of it and help make it grow.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Cheers,</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Ed Newbold</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div></div></body></html>