Rare bird alerts in social media? (1 Viewer)

howiewu

Well-known member

• Dec 26, 2013

• #1

Hi,

I wonder if there are good social media resources for rare birds?

Specifically, I live in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., it would be nice to have up-to-the-minute alerts when rare birds are discovered. I looked on Facebook and Twitter, there are some pages/tweets, but I am not sure if they are updated frequently enough or comprehensive enough.

I did sign up with eBird, but I find that it is not quite up-to-the-minute, which is easy to understand -- most birders usually report after they get home from their birding trips. But when in the field, it would be nice to be updated more often.

Thanks in advance,
Howard

 

Reuven_M

Well-known member

• Dec 27, 2013

• #2

There are bird alerts collected here:
http://birding.aba.org/
Signing up for them will allow you to receive instant updates to email.

 

Mysticete

Well-known member

• Dec 27, 2013

• #3

facebook can be a good resource. The ABA rare bird page often beats Narba in reporting major rarities. There are a lot of more regional facebook pages for different states/counties which might also be good.

 

West End Birder

Well-known member

• Dec 28, 2013

• #4

I get most of my news (for the UK) via Twitter

 

J

Jim M.

Member since 2007

Supporter

• Dec 28, 2013

• #5

Reuven_M said:

There are bird alerts collected here:
http://birding.aba.org/
Signing up for them will allow you to receive instant updates to email.

Click to expand...

The Maryland and Virginia list serves listed at the link Reuven references are THE place in those states for posting sightings of rare birds and receiving alerts. They work via email, which can be sent to or from smartphones or any other computer device instantaneously. There's no need or benefit to resorting to a commercial social media service such as facebook or twitter, where subscriptions are required, advertising may be prevalent, and personal info must often be divulged.

 

C

Cheshire Birder

Well-known member

• Dec 28, 2013

• #6

In the UK, both Facebook and Twitter are at the forefront of disceminating birdnews.

CB

 

Reuven_M

Well-known member

• Dec 29, 2013

• #7

Facebook and Twitter are far inferior for this sort of thing -it's harder to post, harder to get the posts and most importantly it is just about impossible to look at anything but the most recent reports.

 

Bismarck Honeyeater

Barely known member

• Dec 30, 2013

• #8

Cheshire Birder said:

In the UK, both Facebook and Twitter are at the forefront of disceminating birdnews.

CB

Click to expand...

Rare Bird Alert is at the forefront. Social media is fine as far as it goes but will eventually kill quality news provision. Then we will regret what we have lost.

Stick with quality checked news.

 

C

Cheshire Birder

Well-known member

• Dec 31, 2013

• #9

Gilliard's Honeyeater said:

Rare Bird Alert is at the forefront. Social media is fine as far as it goes but will eventually kill quality news provision. Then we will regret what we have lost.

Stick with quality checked news.

Click to expand...

The OP was refering specifically to social media, so I didn't post the RBA/Birdnet/Birdguides as options. All these news providers have made a few howlers this year.

CB