tsheunglai

Dear all

and espeicially for those who have the luck to find the good bird Smew.

Richard has been serving as honorary recorder (a prestigious post next to the president to many of us) for the society for years (which involves a lot of hard quality work) and is at present in charge of the English hotline which has always responded at first opportunity to any report of good finds.

I, though been members for over 20 years, will not give a second thought to follow his comment
and advice in respect of him for his posts and services and experience.

I understand that there are members in the society, especially those among new members who respect
no one. But to push the society forward, do show respect to my advice.

Sharing is one of the strong reasons why I been and still a member of the society for more than 2 score of years. To tell you the truth, I never fail to report to the hotline when I've found a good bird.

Some migrants stay for days but a lot stay just for hours and sometimes even less, adding great
weight for immediate reporting. Don't just tell you friends.

To give an example. On Friday I found a Woodcock at Tai Po Kau. I reported to Richard first for it was the first I believe to be found wintering in HK this year and second it is good to let everyone know Tai Po Kau is a favourite place for Woodcock to winter although according to Viney that the number is declining.

I would consider myself neglecting my duty to report if in my opinion the bird(s) get the merit to be known. I also consider members who do not report manifesting some degree of selfishness.

M Kwan who found the Rustic bunting and did not report fail my criterion stated above. I can't stay
awake to watch the forum at 1 am to see his photos.

Don't do unto others what you do not want to be done unto you.

Let's be obliged.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 28/11/2010 14:52 ]

tsheunglai

Dear all

Sense of belonging includes the knowledge about the society. Please especially for those who
are new try to learn basic things about our society, including adding telephone nos of the society to your mobile phone list.

Let's all do better next time.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

Dear all

The first and most important principle here is that every member who posts his photos here has
undisputable right to decide when to do so.
And among the many birdwatchers I know there is none who is a crazy twitcher - one who would rush to any place within the colony on getting news of a good bird found.

Under the above premises I now elaborate on my past messages here which prove to have aroused such
heated comments and strong opinions. I am truly delighted that most reponses are honest and direct
from heart.

Next I must emphasize that I have no personal axes to grind here. I quoted M Kwan's Rustic bunting simply it was one of most recent photos posted here. I will not and would never guess the 'whys' and 'hows' and guess the circumstances under which the birds are photoed. What I want and will never waver from is Heart of Sharing.

I appreciate good photos and I have showered my praises on ones which truly delighted me.
But I am also from top to bottom a birdwatcher who has taken up the hobby as to identify birdwatching
as my personal being - a lover of nature and freedom. But I don't have the time to try my luck everywhere and on 24-hour basis. Any alas, I have no great luck in past several years to have twitched a great bird. But my heart of sharing is always here - one of the reasons I set up the birding topic
of Shing Mun/Lead Mine Pass. For other true hearts of sharing let me quote some.

John Holmes found a Speckled piculet and posted his photo, reported it to the Birdline (presumably to our English hotline and showed others where he found it. I loved to see the bird and would even want to be informed when John was still on the spot. The latter wish is strictly personal and I am at present not on such good terms as guarentee such helpful and on-the-spot message, though I remember I once phoned John when I seemed to have seen a Drongo cuckoo at Mai Po right away (I really saw one of its inner tail feathers clearly barred!) and also YT Yu. Graham Talbot found the latest
Red-footed booby and sent me a personal phone message right away - imagine how kind he was
as he was at work in Dubai and probably he was to go to other engagements given that he was just
on short holiday on that day. And I must thank Richard here on his unfailing effort to relate all good news right away.

Rarity by definition is something not found as one would have wished to be able to come across his path everyday. But will my fellow birders who have such great luck pass on his finds as soon as time allows. The quickest way is press a few numbers on your phone and give a brief report. Just a half-minute and your reporting business is finished.

But such small act of kindness needs proper habitual reponse to support. That why I ended my second message here by advocating the betterment of tomorrow - for looking forward is always my spirtit.

Someone like M Kwan I apparently have offended I would never expect personal favour. But public spirit is badly needed at present among the birding community. Therefore don't just post your photos here. Report it! State your doubts and reservation
as to the bird's identity and say you post your photos later. Nobody will blame anyone for mistakes.
But it at least raise the awareness of the birding community.

Last word about Dr H F Cheung's comment here. Nobody including me denies anybody's freedom to report or not report. I'm not such idiot as to deny anyone's basic right of freedom! But I must say again I don't want frustration expressed here - oftener than what I would have wished to be minimized by the means and way I have suggested here.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

Dear all

I hereby withdraw my previous comment that 'I also consider members who do not report manifesting some degree of selfishness'. There are different ways to express the same truth. Mine perhaps has stung some weak hearts.

The change now is 'I also consider members who do not report properly on such occasions lacking some degree of true public spirit.'

Also please consider me kind and friendly for criticising like a harsh teacher for I have
great expectations of my fellow members, especially those I have seen all the years from a young
boy to one who now have mastered basic birding skills, excluding M Kwan, of course. He for one will be blessed with lasting peace that he would never be mentioned in any of my public utterances.

He would receive a ready apology from me if he should see fit to demand one.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

Dear all

Please note the words I said 'some degree of selfishness' are definitely a comment of fairly mild form. For, you see, from Richard Dawkins books saying we are genetically 'doomed' to be selfish beings if only for the sake of human survival, individually or as a species. And it is undeniable that everybody is selfish, to some degree. Anyone who can show me I am wroing?I I never blamed anybody for not reporting. I advocated proper reporting, which at the moment a consensus.

If anyone thinks I have blamed, then answer my following questions. Blaming means fault finding. Did I ever say under the topic anyone irresponsible? I only pointed out situations could have improved, and I did make recommendations, positive ones - good habit, public spirit, sense and spirit of sharing and care. This is 'software side' of things and 'hardware side' of things have been taken care of by others like G Welch (apology for wrong spelling) here. I set standards, which may look high for someone. Is it fault finding? I did set and quote good examples? Are my examples bad or simply not up to par? If this is not encouragement, what else will serve the purpose?
I did point out someone who showed his photos at a time too late? Did he or they really think they
were reporting when they were working at the photo-posting process? It is definitely a desire of someone
else sharing the photos with them. What else? Is this action amounts to something more like a hunter who
show his friends his harvest (good shots albeit camera being the shooting tool)? I won't offer my answer
here. But please think.


The lot and majority of readers of this discussions and participants have once benefitted from both the Birdlines, including seeing the Speckled piculet found by Mike Kilburn who kindly showed us the best location and time of meeting it. So could this kind of good will and consideration to others be extended to more birders/photographers? I mean pay back their kindness!Sorry I am a bit angry. We are all adults (any teens here?)and should not receive praise and encouragement more than necessary. Overprasing is in fact amounts to telling someone being inadequate in someway, something akin to fault finding (like saying 'Good boy, good boy' repeatedly means he/it is not good enough/needs setting up good habits/correction)? Am I wrong here? Anyone who like being encouraged in this way? Tell me.

It is a time for true and sincere reflections and planning for improvements upon system of reporting, showing also its short term and long term benefits to the whole society. I definitely will start a new topic on the system and make offerings shortly.

I hereby challenge anybody who accused me of blaming show me evidence while my presentations are all
here for all to read and examine.

S L Tai

[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 2/12/2010 13:42 ]

tsheunglai

Dear C Y

Apology to discovering your PMs a bit late and as I'm also technically inadequate to answer you by PMs,
I've to resort to doing it openly.

I'm unable and won't examine the whole 'Finding the smew' affair in detail, especially the motive side of you the finders. In fact I'm more disappointed with the response I got under the topic when I quoted the Rustic bunting photos as an example of inadequacy or not good enough as regards proper reporting.

Personally I felt no disappointment or frustration for the Smew or Rustic bunting not being also seen by me. I did'nt make enquiries nor set foot to the places where the birds were found. Honestly I'm a bit
disappointed with people about the way they handled good finds, not necessarily the above two. In the past two years I was most thankful that my age (meaning more time), new and selective learning and observation afford me continual growth of wisdom which I treasure most and far above pure bird watching and seeing new birds (you may refer to what I said under the Shing Mun/ Lead Mine Pass topic).

I'm hereby thankful that I've seen more than 400 species (not photographing) through my luck of associating with some of the best members of the society and through of course my good skills and
some luck of my own. If there are more it is just 'kam seung tim fa' (one more medal to the 'Victoria
Cross' I've won).

It is not uncommon among young or new members who want to show that their own way(s) are superior
and ignore tradition and forgetful of seniors' contribution in building the society to the present
status and their advices are seldom heeded enough. Are these disrespectfulness?

Is smoking and speaking like loudspeakers and interferring with each other and lack of willingness
of sharing space in a crowded birdhide (every photographer taking up the centre of one of the windows and
won't buck a bit for new-commers are more and more often seen at Mai Po and other hot spots) strongly
indicating a lack of spirit of sharing (is this selfishness?). All these people I can hardly call by
names, not faces I'm familiar with. And they seem wanting to continue with their own way!

I say again we all need improvement or/and adaptations
as a group of people having the good luck or 'yuen fan' to be memebers of HKBWS, not just joining it for the sake of getting a Mai Po reserve permit and Boardwalk permit and/or good photos.

Remember the society has oriented itself towards better and better conservation of birds.

I say here that I hate naming anyone. You and others are not bad members and indeed far from being so
(to tell you the truth I occasionally approach the birds a bit too closely and thereby behaving a bit badly and I excuse myself for suffering from ageing eyes, and I by profession used to talk loudly to forty or more loud people and still inadverdently talk in an undesirable volume to the exasperation of some 'kwailos'), but I daresay not experienced enough and know enough how to handle your good finds properly or in the best interest of the society.

Am I asking too much? Forgive me for speaking from my heart or speaking the truth.

S L Tai

tsheunglai

Dear Dave

Your words are loud and clear. But could the good news come from you?

Hopefully when I stop my rants and gibberish comments you or somebody else will find the Smew.

Thanks

S L Tai

tsheunglai

Dear all

I learned about the bird from personal calls. In today's case even non-members saw it long before me.
It is understandable that Richard's machine was not the old one, probably a system supplied by
PCCW which cannot be remotely controlled.

It's Mike and Richard's speedy spread of news that made so many winners today. A big 'thank you' for you both.

S L Tai