Hi everyone
Firstly, I’d like to add my voice to those congratulating John Young on his outstanding achievement. This really is one of the greatest achievements in bird study anywhere in the world. It’s also a fantastic example of what can be achieved if you can somehow combine ALL of these elements: incredible self-belief; comprehensive knowledge; perseverance; years of painstaking searching and gathering of data; the highest level of bushcraft; and great mental toughness. I can’t imagine it could have been done if any of these had been simply ordinary.
It’s also a great relief to be able to mention Night Parrots on Birding-Aus! Some years ago, we had a serial nuisance who used the pseudonym Night Parrot. They initially weighed into the banding debate, but fairly quickly tired of that and from then on simply attacked individuals and tried to stir up petty squabbles. For a while I wondered whether or not it was worth trying to keep Birding-Aus going.
There have been very few other occasions where I considered shutting down the forum – that’s simply due to the nature of everyone on BIrding-Aus. There are so many generous people who post trip reports, ID hints, helpful suggestions and other useful bits of information; and so many good-natured people who enjoy sharing ideas on this forum. We are all very fortunate that we don’t have the bitter arguments and endless petty sniping that plague so many other forums. Let’s keep it that way!
There are always going to be a range of opinions on many topics; there are going to be some issues which polarise opinion; sometimes Birding-Aus contributors will be on opposite sides of arguments that may generate a lot of intense feeling and emotion. Can I please make the point that dragging up old issues that have been debated, argued and fought over is not likely to resolve them any better this time around? I don’t stifle genuine debate, but I will do whatever I can to prevent mud-slinging, bullying and abuse on this forum. Stirring up old arguments is unlikely to do anything but generate resentment and intemperate invective.
So let’s enjoy discussing Night Parrots for all the right reasons!
Russell Woodford Birding-Aus Founder and List Owner ===============================
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