I have always appreciated Birdman's contributions to our...

I have always appreciated Birdman's contributions to our understanding of Nearmap - I echo your hopes that he is OK.

So (without any personal knowledge of Birdman) I will just say that I hope that his absence from HotCopper has been due to the challenges of determining which Mercedes/BMW/Audi/Porsche he is going to buy as a second car, and assessing whether Bollinger or Veuve Clicquot or Dom Perignon is most suited to his tastes.