In searching for news about the birding world, as I often do, I came across this article that gives some information about how the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau is successfully bringing birders and birdwatchers to Jackson County, Michigan, where they spend their hard-earned dollars while watching birds.  And it’s no wonder, with the nicely put together birdwatching portion of the Jackson County Visitor’s Bureau website.

It is always great to see an understanding of and appreciation for the economic impact we birders can have on an area.  Go (to) Jackson County!

Okay, so I (Charlie) am not Simon King or Kenn Kaufman, but I do have a twitter account and I will be updating during the Birdfair and whatever else follows as my new ‘life outside the airline’ develops. I’d be very flattered if you’d do the whole ‘follow’ bit and I promise I will find something interesting to say…I’m at @wiltsnature - I thankyou!

‘Greenwash of the Week’ Award goes to Tusk Mining of South Africa, who says because they are committed to reducing their footprint on the South African landscape they have “undertaken to only begin new mining operations in countries other than [SA]. To this end, we have begun exploration in China and Australia.” So, rather than b*gger up SA they’re going to extract 1 million tonnes of coking coal per annum from an open-caste mine just 6km from the boundary of Purnululu National Park, a World Heritage Site, in western Australia instead. Burning that coal will produce 2 million tonnes of CO2. You just couldn’t make it up…

A couple of days ago I wrote a post about my involvement with the Viking Optical-sponsored Birdfair.TV but didn’t give a link to a website - because at the time the beta version hadn’t gone live. The guys at Digital Spring have now finished off the online trials, all is working, and the website is now live at http://www.birdfair.tv/. More material is due be added, and my involvement really begins a few days before the Birdfair opens on August 20th.