Thursday, November 3, 2011

HawkCount Now and Forever

How important is HawkCount.org to you? Do you enter data to HawkCount during the migration season? Do you use it to find local sites or to stay up to date with what’s been seen at watchsites in your region or across the continent? How about the site profile pages detailing site descriptions, history and directions. Or maybe you enjoy viewing the watchsite stats like record days, max season counts and timing tables. HawkCount has a lot to offer and we know it’s a valuable resource to the hawkwatching community. But this free service takes a lot of effort to maintain which is why HMANA has launched a fundraiser this fall to help maintain and improve the database.

HawkCount.org requires constant effort to physically maintain servers, develop and improve functionality, create and update content, transfer data from paper to electronic form, implement elaborate curatorial procedures for archiving, backing up and releasing existing data, and to enhance the reports that users can obtain from it, among many other tasks. Not all of this work can be done by volunteers and costs are incurred by HMANA to maintain and improve the system.
And so we’re asking for help from the raptor enthusiasts that use and rely on it, YOU! HawkCount.org is largely your site! HMANA provides the framework, but you and your fellow hawk watchers count the hawks, enter the data, and view the results. Without your
contributions and interest there would be no HawkCount.
There are two ways to donate to HawkCount. You can sponsor a watchsite’s profile page or you can make a flat donation. Please visit www.HawkCount.org for more details.
Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to Fund-raising Month in October! As of October 31, we have registered 26 site page sponsorships on 22 sites, and have raised over $3,000! This is a wonderful and welcome contribution to HawkCount costs and is much
appreciated.
Because we were off to a slow start at the beginning of October, we have extended “Fund-raising Month” until November 15 to give everyone extra time to help meet HawkCount’s immediate
fund-raising target of $5000. This includes keeping the Accipiter level sponsorships at the minimum $50 rate until November 15. After that, it will return to $100.

We hope you will help us reach our targets for HawkCount Fund-raising Month. Thank you for your support and for making the largest migration monitoring database in the world a success!