It has been a fun ride Russell, and even though I have been a fairly quiet passenger for the last decade or two, I still remember the heyday like it was yesterday … back whenever it was that there was you, me and some other bloke as the only subscribers when it all kicked off. Geelong was the epicentre of world birding (‘birdwatching’ it was called then I think), and Birding-Aus was its preferred comm’s platform.
Birding-Aus has been a magnificent contribution to birding culture in Australia Russell, and you deserve a medal of some kind for carrying it on for how ever many decades it is now. Well done and thank-you.
I took myself out of the toxic cesspit that is Facebook earlier this year, and I don’t miss all the trolls and haters foaming at the mouth about all sorts of matters trivial and not. Well maybe a tiny bit of FoMO from time to time in the more civil discourse end of things, but very minor in the scheme of it all. So I won’t see you there.
At a time in world history when Bill Oddie has gone off to the great birding hotspot in the sky, and Birding-Aus as an email-based thing is about to follow him, thanks again Russell. And may H5N1 be gentle on our feathered and furred friends …
Hi Lawrie, you wrote ‘back whenever it was that there was you, me and some other bloke as the only subscribers when it all kicked off’. I was, and probably still am, the other bloke (!)
I fully share your sentiments about the list, having made great use of it over the decades.
And remember that time we had a Birding-Aus campout, a most enjoyable face-to-face get-together? Can’t recall the date or place. 1990s at Deniliquin?
I established the Canberra Ornithologists Group’s email list in 1999, having observed the early success of Birding-Aus. COG’s list continues to function, with a fairly stable subscriber list of around 400, and an average of 30-40 posts per month.
David McDonald, Wamboin NSW