Birding Listservers – What are they and what can they do for you?
Birding listservers are a modern computer/internet information system whereby a group of people subscribe” to a computer site that acts as a message courier. The “host” computer acts as a mail courier that forwards all submitted messages to all “subscribers”. Once subscribed, you will receive the messages posted by all the other “members” of this “listserver” to the computer system that acts as host. Alternatively, you can also post messages with bird sightings, discussion topics, etc. that all others will receive. As with any communal system, there are always rules of behavior, topics, etc. that one must agree to become a “subscriber”. But once in, the flow of information is almost immediate. There are usually other options for the “subscribers” that include temporarily stopping mail, “unsubscribing”, etc. If you are interested in participating in such a system, think about the possibility of dozens of notes each day and all the discussions that might be started there. However, this is not an issue for most, as you can simply erase any notes on topic not of interest. And, in being subscribed, there is an almost continuous flow of bird sighting, interesting topics, etc. It’s all in the eye of the beholder.
There are a variety of listservers that are available. Some are locally oriented, some are nationally oriented. Others are very specific to the topics they cover, others are not. It all depends on your interest and how much information you wish to deal with. Below are a variety of listservers with website connections that will help you get started. Read through and see if any of these are of interest. Good luck with your endeavors.
The following are Michigan-oriented Listservers
1. Birders – Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, and Southeast Michigan
Simply go to this website and you have the choice of entering as a member, joining or visiting the listserve as a guest. If you enter as a guest, you have the choice of reading messages or searching for specific words or phrases in posts. For instance, entering “red crossbill” in the search space and pressing enter, you get a list of many messages listed on the listserve that mention the phrase “red crossbill’. You can simply read the messages that are of interest. If you want to join the listserve, touch that button with your mouse and you get a series of fields asking for information that eventually will have you subscribed as a member of the listserve.
2. Mich-chat – Statewide List
Mich-chat is a list for discussion of Michigan birds that are not rarities. Again, by going to this website, you simply provide some information and you can be a member of this group. Alternatively, you can click on a link to archived messages from previous discussions.
3. Mich-listers – For submitting rarity reports
This list is used to report rare birds within the state of Michigan to bird listers. Appropriate species would be those a year lister would need, but would otherwise be difficult to get. This listserver is also closely associated with Mich-chat listserver. Same story for subscribing to this listserver. Simply go to this website and provide the necessary information. Also, the second website address is for archived listings from the listserver.
4. NMB – Northern Michigan Birding
Once you enter this website, there a couple of options. Members can login to an area with specific topics and information. There is also an option to join this listserve by simply clicking the button for this purpose and filling in the necessary information. There is also a general forum are on the top page, where you can see some discussions that are ongoing. These are already categorized by interests. There are areas for sightings, photography, nesting forum, organizations, etc. If you have a birding interest, there is probably something here for you.
5. SE_Mich Bird-list:
Rarity reports for SE Michigan. This is not a chat group. This is for sightings. Simply sent a note to this web address with the following message - subscribe SE-MI-birdlist Your Name – where you simply use your own name along with the subscribe message.
The American Birding Association (ABA) has a website page dedicated to listing these listservers for all the states in the US and other countries. The web address for this is: http://www.aba.org/resources/mailinglists.html
Another major collection of useful listservers are the complex known as “BirdChat”. Using the website address given here ( http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdchat.html ), you will have the choice to click on a line saying “Join or Leave the List”. You simply provide you re-mail address and a name and click the subscribe button. A message is then sent to your e-mail account which you reply to saying “OK”. You will be officially subscribed shortly and will begin to receive messages form this listserver. You can also post to this listserver.
There are also another set of listservers out of the University of Arizona that are associated with Birdchat. Among these are a series rare bird sighting listservers. These are not for posting by individuals. These can be accessed by simply doing a goggle search for the names Birdeast, Birdcentral and Birdwest. Once these are found, look for a result that has the “listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdeast” or other website address and click on this. Again, subscribing is done from the same line as was used in the Birdchat listserver. There are also other topics serviced by this organization with listservers for other topics like banding, etc. You are limited only by your interests and your willingness to read lots of e-mail.
If you search for “birding listservers” on the net (via Google or other search engine), you will find a large number of listservers that cover a variety of topics and organizations. One such list is found at http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/1410/listservs.html. On the page found at this address, there are a large number of listservers that can be joined. This list, which was compiled by Rick Blom, is listed below just to indicate the wide variety of possible sources of information and exchange that are available. The sky’s the limit, so have some fun and learn a bunch about birds.
Note: There used to be wide collection of birding hotlines. These have been displaced by the internet sites. Only the NW Ohio hotline still is active. It is 419-877-9640.
List Servers
OAKLAND AUDUBON SOCIETY
www.OaklandAudubon.org
