A nice, thoughtful post by Haans, there. I'd like to chip in a couple of
observations from how I used my smartphone on the recent Big Day I
participated in for the Columbus Birdathon. I found that for the most
up-to-date information for Northwest Ohio, the @BiggestWeek twitter feed
was vital, giving us information on species that we would have missed
otherwise. Of course, in previous years, much of the same information would
have been posted to the Ohio Birds listserve; this year, this information
was largely absent from the listserve for reasons unknown. I found that the
Facebook posts were helpful for planning purposes but not so hot for fresh
information. For planning purposes, I also found eBird to be very useful in
researching target birds, as sometimes there are birds submitted on
checklists that aren't reported elsewhere. The listserve and the twitter
feed were definitely helpful in terms of communicating up-to-date
information on rare or uncommon birds. The way my smartphone is set up, I
get email alerts as soon as they come in, but for new posts or tweets, I
have to check the feed myself, so I still prefer getting information by
email over other sources.

I still find the listserve to be the best source for detailed information
about Ohio birds, in terms of directions to locations, discussions of
vagrancy and hybridization, and comparisons with historical data. The
twitter feed was good for what it focused on, but the 140-character
limitation makes it hard to convey more than species and a general
location. The Facebook information is harder to navigate, as it can be
difficult to track the location of specific posts as new posts and new
comments on old posts bump individual posts up and down the feed. The Ohio
Rare Bird Alert Facebook page is the most useful, I would agree with Haans,
and that's chalked up to the discipline and ability to follow the page
guidelines of the people who post there. One big advantage of the Facebook
page is the ability to post images, links to maps, and detailed directions
all in one post.

Andy Sewell
Columbus




On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Haans Petruschke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Last fall I noted the Findlay Prairie Falcon first got widely reported on
> the Birding Ohio Facebook Page and not the list serve.  That group now has
> more than 1600 members, and while it was the place to post rarities for a
> few months, it has evolved into a perfectly nice place where people post
> their photos and ask for identification help.
>
> Also noteworthy has been the development of real time posting of photos of
> rare birds from the field.  This first happened with the Brookside
> Reservation Western Kingbird.  We Ohioans seem to be on the leading edge in
> this regard, which has only become possible with the advent of "smart"
> mobiles and phone scoping.
>
> In the mean time some other pages have developed on Facebook.  Ohio Rare
> Bird Alert, which is dedicated to reporting rare birds and seems to be well
> used for that purpose.  Additionally, Listing Birds Ohio has become the
> place for more Birding related discussion and fun stuff related to the
> sporting aspect of Birds in Ohio. This seems to have also become a reliable
> forum for reports on rarities.
>
> At the same time it seems Jen Brumfield has become the clearinghouse for
> quick reporting of rarities.  If you call or text her with a find, she has
> a text group list and gets the word out quickly to everyone on that list.
>  This is sort of like the old phone trees of the 1970's and '80s but more
> rapid and perhaps egalitarian.
>
> Jen's efforts work much like a Twitter feed would, but there seems to be
> considerable resistance to getting a Ohio rare bird twitter feed up and
> running.  The resistance is not active, but just seems to be the result of
> people not understanding twitter and how it can be used for this sort of
> purpose, and the misconception that a "smart" mobile is needed to access
> the feed.  It is not as twitter will work with any phone capable of sending
> and receiving text messages.
>
> Meanwhile, this forum has not gone away and many birders make an effort to
> post here when something good is found in the field.  The major change
> being the list server is often the last place where word gets out.
>
> The really great thing from my perspective is how Ohio's birders are making
> every effort to communicate and get the word out about rare birds as
> quickly and widely as is possible.
>
> While most everyone now has a mobile it will be a few more years before
> everyone has a smart mobile which is more than just a phone.  Once 99.73%
> of the birding community have adopted "smart" mobile technology, it will be
> interesting to see how our communication again evolves.  As it is now, many
> of us are checking both the list serve and Facebook when we are in the
> field to make sure we are not missing something.  These tasks may become
> more automated as could happen with a twitter feed.  As this happens I hope
> our communication becomes less fragmented as is the current situation.
>
> A chilly 41 degrees on Gildersleeve Mountain this morning.
>
> Haans
>
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