FVB Website Launched!!

[JeffOver]

Hi Gord,
Yes, that taxonomic order is much better--great idea! I also like the photos you put beside the families, it gives a nice addition and also a visual aid to what family I'm looking at.
Jeff

[josterhold]

hello gord

amazing site, gord! a job well done!

to answer a couple of your questions:
i did see 7 redstarts close to the hope airport, by the banks of the fraser river in late august. this was with todd kohler and the birdman. i will contact you with the exact local and the date when i find those records.

todd kohler and i did see 6 am. white pelicans fly over cheam lake in a late april bird walk for the chilliwacck field naturalists; again i will search down the details.

and thor is correct; we did have an anna's hummingbird visit our feeder from nov. 23/04 until dec.9/07. i was able to find this record. i know denis knopp has had quite a few sightings at his place; either contact him or maybe he will post them for you.

again, gord, thanks for all the hard work you do on this site, on the fvb site and all the great birds you find.
also, thanks to all the great people out there who share their sightings and make this birding site so great.

good birding,
jason

[Gord]

Thanks for all the data and for the kind comments as well to myself and everyone who contributes.

Just in case anyone wonders, I do keep these records in a folder and I will put them to use. Im still not having the evening time yet to do as much as I wanted due to still getting things in shape in the new house. I noticed that I have pictures of several different species that were contributed. They are all sized, captioned and credited but for some reason, I did not put them on their respective parts of the website. Next update will see them going where they belong (finally!)

[Gord]

Ok, another raft of updates. Let me know if any problems are found. This is where they pop up.

I know about the one where text from an old article is below the new one. Im not sure why it does that. I dont see it in the code anywhere. The site guide to Sumas Central had this problem until I fixed it. Sadly, Im not sure what I did to fix it...

Anyway, one of the major updates is a checklist. I thought it would be fun to have a list to take out in to the field. After deliberation, I did leave the rarities on the list. Bascially, the list mirrors the list of birds recorded/reported in the Fraser Valley birding area. I hummed and hawwed about it for some time. Even if we removed the rarities, the list will not be shortened from the two (Im hoping people print on both sides, but if not, then four) pages we currently have.

A more seasonal list may help fix the issue of size (one page is nice) or a list with just the common birds. Might be worthwhile (and fairly quick a process) to have several to choose from in the future.

Im eager to hear comments and ideas. Here's a quick link to where it's found. The first idea might be to make the checklist easier to find on the page! I can picture a thumbnail under the map thumbnail on the left being a good place for it. Oh, I see I forgot to make it open its own window when I click on the checklist. Make that two things! ;D www2.webng.com/FVBirding/FVB/Species/index.htm

As usual, Im always on the lookout for contributions. Even if it's not 'complete' (missing pictures etc) dont hesitate to do it. Myself and others here would be most pleased to contribute towards someone's project. I love Harlequin Ducks, but a new species would be cool!

[butterfly]

The site looks excellent and the repairs work. Thanks for the checklist; it looks great! Good work. Much appreciated!
By the way there were 11 double-crested Cormorant at Sardis Park Nov 28th there's a photo of them on the logs and in the water in our journal here:
www.butterflyonmyshoulder.ca/Journal/11_07/Journal_11_07-4.html
Regards Bruce and Joanne
www.butterflyonmyshoulder.ca/

[JeffOver]

Hi Gord and all,
I like the checklist! Just a thought open for discussion. Is it a good idea to put the "status" of the species on the checklist? I'm thinking in particular of the Manning Park list, that designates (if I remember right) the species as common resident, rare, breeding season, etc. The Manning list, in my opinion, is very small type and hard to read because it includes this information, and it requires a preface explaining codes like "cr" for common resident, etc. My first thought was that this would be a good idea and helpful, but then I thought that it may result in misidentifications if some bird is way out of whack, and also like the Manning list, would mean smaller type and more cramming, or more pages. So, personally, my conclusion is that I like the list the way it is as a simple checklist--besides, one can always go on to the "bird lists" page and check out more information on a bird after a birding trip (also keeps things simple for Gord). However, I would like to know others' opinion on this. Do you find it handy on a birding trip to have such designations or details (such as how common a species at a certain time of year) readily available, or not? Thanks,
Jeff

[Gord]

Jeff, great thoughts.

I was hoping to take the seasonal status from each species as seen on the website and putting it in a similar list together. It would be the same bar graph style as currently seen on the web.

I also thought about trying to incorporate it into a checklist for birdwatching excursions as it is nice to have the status bars to see if the bird you're looking at is rare or out of season. But that would make for a pretty impressive wad of paper to carry about. I picture the seasonal status list to be fairly small with little (but some) area for writing/checkmarks.

Perhaps several could be created based on ideas/requests from members.

Thanks for the note, Jeff. Ill address that right away.

[Dave]

Thanks for all the work, Gord! Great additions!

I am in favour of seeing a checklist of common birds as well. This way everyone would know that a sighting of a bird that is not on the "common list" should definitely be posted on this discussion forum.

Then again, I like seeing postings of the common birds too, so maybe everyone should just post everything they see and then I am happy

Good Work!

Dave