This list best serves the birding public with posts as we've seen recently with the cormorant and the brambling, strictly informational. 

Evolution in technology has made an email list such as this less useful to many folks, I know my teenagers consider email "for old people", Facebook is another technology "for old people".  Email is the quickest way for me to check for any local rarities, it gets lost in my Facebook feed and I think it's all too easy to get overwhelmed with multiple social media apps. That said, everyone consumes technology differently. 

Where this list does not effectively serve the birding public was illustrated last year when Kathie Hutton posted her kind reminder to birders that any rarities mentioned on April 1st were likely to be a hoax. Kathie was pilloried for doing this. "Oh you're ruining our fun."  That old boys club attitude is off-putting and tiresome.  I routinely and quickly delete any post that isn't about where I can see a specific bird of interest. Questions about birds, birding spots, gear, festivals are all within the purview of the list, isn't the purpose to engage more birders? That will only be accomplished with genuine willingness to be helpful and kind. 

That said, April 1st is fast approaching! If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Deborah A Smith
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