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BIRDS AS ART ON-LINE Bulletin #88
September 12, 2002
Request For Con$ervation Help; Typo; Best Buy on Compact
Flash Cards and More.... By Paul D. Parisi; This One Made Me Cry
REQUEST FOR
CON$ERVATION HELP
As I
was finishing packing for Costa Rica, I checked my e-mail and found
the one below. Coincidentally, I will be visiting Finca Lupita
this weekend!
Help is Needed for the
Finca Lupita Bird Sanctuary in Cuidad Quesada, Costa Rica
An Urgent Plea from Dr. Ellen K. Rudolph September 12, 2002
This is a message to my fellow conservation enthusiasts. I am
looking to raise some emergency cash to help a friend of mine in
Costa Rica who has been
rescuing injured Great Green Macaws for the last ten years, and who
now has a successful breeding colony of them in Costa Rica. I want
to tell you this
conservation story and also ask you for your help.
The Great Green Macaws are endangered parrots and the project that I
am about to describe is a remarkable personal effort to save them
from extinction. Tom Birmingham Armstrong is a US citizen and
veteran USAF who has been living in Costa Rica for ten years, mostly
on social security. He bought a former coffee plantation and began
taking in injured birds and rehabilitating them back to the wild.
After many months he also began to attract wild birds who were
migrating across his property.
Tom is one of those unknown, unsung heroes in conservation and I
feel privileged to know him. He is a very interesting guy, he was on
the ground
support team for the first NASA shuttle mission in 1981, the
Columbia. Upon his retirement from the National Aeronautical and
Space Administration in the
late 80's he moved to Costa Rica where the US dollar stretches
farther and that's when his attention turned to the plight of the
Great Green Macaws. He
has been involved in conservation efforts on their behalf ever
since. The birds in his care are 100% free and fly in and out of the
property every
morning and evening.
The bad news is that Tom is dying and he doesn't have much longer to
live. He is on oxygen now and requires nightly nursing care, and he
can no longer
spend time outside with the Macaws. He has limited family, none
close by, and he is anxious about the future safety and well-being
of his Great Green
colony, as he should be. He approached the Wild Spots Foundation to
assist him. I was just with Tom in mid-August at his farm, The
Finca Lupita Bird
Sanctuary as he calls it. I have been helping Dr. Barry Barker of
the Wild Spots Foundation in Ft. Lauderdale to organize a transition
of Tom's beloved
Macaw colony into protective, capable hands. We are working with an
extended Costa Rica family in Tom's area who has been rescuing
endangered
neotropical animals and birds of all kinds for more than 25 years.
They have built a wonderful, expansive and well-managed zoo to house
these animals and
they provide invaluable educational services to visiting Costa Rican
citizens in the process.
We are working out the transition details now and feel certain that
Juan Jose Rogas and his zoo will be able to continue Tom's breeding
efforts with the
more vulnerable members of the existing colony of Great Greens in
protected environs. This will provide relief for the Great Greens
immediately upon
Tom's death until such time as the Wild Spots Foundation can take
over the property and support it. and adequately protect it. This is
wonderful opportunity for the Foundation for Tom's dilemma
perfectly matches the Foundation's mission to save valuable habitats
of endangered species which it does through photography, technology
and education. The Foundation eventually plans to renovate the
property to attract students,
photographers and researchers to Finca Lupita who will provide a
revenue-generating base that will support the property and provide a
firm
foundation for it for the future. Eventually the Foundation hopes to
broadcast 24-hour, seven-day-a-week live webcams of endangered
species and
related educational material to thousands of American school
children.
Tom has never gotten any kind of public or conservation funding for
his Great Green project, he has done it all on his own for all these
years. Now that he
is in his last stages of life his money has almost run out. Indeed,
last week, one of the night nursing providers took two checks from
his checkbook and fraudulently withdrew $2,500 from Tom's account
and absconded. Tom had just cashed in his last money market reserves
of $6,000 a few days earlier
and this stolen amount was part of those precious reserves. You can
see how precarious his resources are. We are looking now for some
emergency cash to refund Tom's stolen assets so that he can continue
to care for the birds while he is still alive and while we are
organizing the transition of the property. Tom has three long-time
employees devoted to caring for his Sanctuary and these employees
must be paid or they cannot continue to work there. The safety of
the Great Greens and the other parrots depends heavily on them, and
the Great Greens especially would be vulnerable to the ravages of
illegal wildlife traders who have a looming presence in that part of
Costa Rica.
The Foundation, therefore, has determined that it immediately needs
$36,000 to cover legal, employee and other urgent expenses to
preserve and protect
the existing colony which includes 16 Great Green Macaws, numerous
Scarlet Macaws, 4 Toucans, two dozen Amazon parrots, and
approximately 100 other Costa Rican parrots, not to mention Finca
Lupita's attraction to scores of other bird species that live in the
adjacent rainforest. Tom's property, Finca Lupita's 9.5 acres, is
situated near the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in the Cordillera
de Guanacaste. Finca Lupita's close proximity to the Preserve makes
it especially valuable as a migratory zone for parrots flying in and
out of the Preserve. The Juan Jose Rogas property is also similarly
situated. As a future research site it boasts unparalleled
opportunity for studying Great Greens in the wild.
We need help in raising emergency funds at this time. You can send
cash donations c/o The Wild Spots Foundation which is a US-based
501(c)3
foundation for tax purposes: The Wild Spots Foundation Dr. Barry W.
Barker, President 757 SE 17th Street, #230 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
33316
Tele/Fax: (954) 585-0707 Toll Free: (866) 363-2643
www.wildspotsfoundation.org ATTENTION: FINCA LUPITA BIRD
SANCTUARY, COSTA RICA, EMERGENCY RESCUE FUND Those wishing to use
Paypal.com will find a link at the bottom of the home page (link
above).
Help us help the Great Greens, their future is limited without us.
Dr. Ellen K. Rudolph drellenr@aol.com
TYPO
(in red)
FROM LAST BULLETIN
Queens, New York. On
Sunday, August 24, 2003 "The Art
of Nature Photography; It Ain't Just Birds," will be presented at
the Ramada Adria Conference Center in Bayside, NY. The cost of the
seminar is $75. There will be an In-The Field Workshop on
Monday August 25, 2003. The fee for the I-T-F-Workshops is $225
(Limit 10 photographers.) Note: you must be signed up for
the Sunday Seminar to attend the
I-T-F Workshop.
I am also announcing here for
the first time a Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Shorebird IPT August
27-29, 2003. (3-day, $829). Though this IPT is not yet posted on
the web site, you may register by sending a $200 deposit (as
above). As many folks have been clamoring for me to do another IPT
at JBWR, my "soul place," this one will likely fill quickly.
On a separate note, we have received
many registrations for both the San Diego and the NYC events. The
JBWR IPT is more than half full already! The three November Bosques
are nearly filled, but the post-NANPA Bosque IPT, the post-Christmas
SW FLA IPT, and the San Diego IPT all have room. See the web site
for details. (The JBWR IPT may sell out before it makes the web
site-see Bulletin 87 for info on this IPT.
BEST BUY ON COMPACT
FLASH CARDS AND MORE... by Paul D. Parisi
I
met Paul, who makes a living as a computer programmer, at the Boston
Photo Weekend. Though Paul is a beginning nature photographer, he is
extremely knowledgeable as to the computer end of digital
photography and has agreed to write for the Bulletin on a variety of
related topics. Here is his first report:
What are the best
Compact Flash Options available?
Reliable media is critical to your
digital picture taking experience. I wanted to take a few minutes to
let you know what I feel are the best values for compact flash (CF)
cards currently available. I recommend two types of CF cards;
Transcend 512 MB 24X speed Cards and IBM Microdrives. The Transcend
have performed exceptionally well and are currently the MB/$ value
winner, an good value at only $214.99 each. Visit
www.MyDigitalDiscount.com. (Note from Artie: If you contact
Matt, please let him know that you learned of My Digital Discount
through a BAA Bulletin; thanks.) I bought my cards from them and
they were a pleasure to deal with. (Another note from Artie: I
bought four this week; the price has dropped! You may be shocked to
learn that on Monday I made more than 300 images with the Canon EOS
1D digital camera that Canon Pro Markets Rep Barbara Ellison so
kindly loaned me for the Costa Rica trip. I was thrilled with the
camera and shall be sharing an image or two or more with you when I
return from Costa Rica.)
You will find other brands at prices
similar to the Transcend but these are typically much slower cards.
I can legitimately say I see a performance difference on my 1D using
the Transcend 25X cards versus the Microdrive. The difference is not
as pronounced with the D30 or D60. The pricing mentioned above is
typically cheaper than the slower 512MB cards so it really is a good
deal.
When I purchased my Canon D30,
almost two years ago now, I bought an IBM 1GB Microdrive. This is
also an excellent option for twice the amount of space at only
around $30 more. However, you need to be aware that if you drop a
Microdrive you most likely will lose all of the data on it. The
Microdrive, as its name implies is just a micro-sized hard drive. As
with any hard drive, it is very susceptible to impact and/or shock
damage. Mind you this has not stopped me from still using it.
Instead of buying a second one, I bought four 512MB Transcend cards.
Also you should consider getting a wallet for your card storage. I
bought a Hakuba Digital Media Storage Wallet (#DMSP-CF4) which can
hold up 4 Compact Flash Cards from Adorama for under $10. I have
five cards, one in the camera and 4 in the case. I put them in the
case face up when they are empty and then turn them over once they
are full. By the way, if you drop a solid state CF card, like the
Transcend, most likely you will not lose anything. Unlike the
Microdrive there are no moving parts. I should note that there are
other good CF cards out there. None are remarkably better, but I
chose the Transcend cards for many reasons and have been quite
satisfied with them.
In the field I had been carrying an
IBM ThinkPad X Series laptop which is nice because it comes with a
built in CF card reader. I would fill my cards and then boot up the
laptop and download the cards to the hard drive in the computer. I
recommend that you use Windows XP on your laptop as it has wonderful
support for CF cards built in. If your laptop does not have a CF
slot you can buy an inexpensive CF to PCCard adaptor, which allows
you to insert the CF card into the laptops PCCard slot. This also
works well. However, at a recent shoot, my brain was not fully
engaged and I forgot my laptop and was rapidly filling up my cards.
Stopping at the local photo store I was blessed that they had a
Delkin PicturePad in stock so I bought it. At around $500 it is not
cheap but it is a great device. I am just delighted with its
performance. The model I bought has a 20GB hard drive in it and a
color LCD screen on it. You insert your CF card into the slot on the
device and push a button to copy all of the files to the PicturePad.
Push another button to verify the files and then one more button to
erase your CF card now that the files are in the PicturePad. You
can, if you really want to, view your images on the 1.8” color
screen, although I find this is not really practical. Once back at
my computer, the PicturePad connects to my computer via the built-in
USB port. The PicturePad comes with an internal rechargeable battery
and all of the necessary cables. It also has the ability to connect
to the video input on a television so you can review your images on
much larger display. I have found that the unit does use up its
batteries so you may want to consider a vehicle power inverter to
charge the unit while you drive. Visit
www.delkin.com for more info. Using the PicturePad is much more
efficient than waiting for my laptop to boot and then having to
hassle with the mouse. I am sure that these devices are going to
come down in price rather rapidly so you may want to wait to
purchase one, but, as with all technology purchases, be careful, you
can find yourself waiting forever.
HELP WITH ATLANTA
PHOTOGRAPHY WEEKEND REQUESTED
I
would like to schedule a BIRDS AS ART/Art of Nature
Photography Weekend in Atlanta, Georgia in the fall of
2003. Anyone involved with local photography or natural history
groups or with knowledge of good locations for nature photography in
the Atlanta area are urged to contact me via e-mail.
THIS ONE MADE ME CRY
As someone who at
times in the past has been perceived as a loud-mouthed, overly
opinionated boor, receiving the e-mail below put a big smile on my
face and a tear of happiness in my eye. (Though I received many
thank yous for the "In Memoriam: image (that was of course a real
photo, not a sandwich or a digital creation--I would have stated
that clearly....) I would like to share this one special one with
those of you who have bothered to read this far...
Mr. Morris,
You
must be a special person but how do I know? I don't know you from
Adam's cat. I've seen you on TV and I saw you from a distance at
Ding Darling once. I met you once at your booth at NANPA last year
but I did not know how to make conversation so asked some inane
questions that you must've heard a thousand times. Yet something
comes through. I see how you act around those you know and I see
warmth. I see you with your lady companion and I see warmth. I
think I even see it on TV. But I certainly see it in your
newsletters and especially this message. This is how I know you
must be a special person.
I
just wanted to say thanks. Your sentiment is much appreciated by
someone who aches to do what you do but who lacks the courage to
simply plunge ahead and do it. I have not given up though and you
are an inspiration to me. It's not very likely but maybe someday
we'll meet in such a manner than I can get to know you better and
learn even more. Until then, I accept the "love to all" you sent
and wish you much of the same.
Be
well,
John Reed
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