User:Aviceda/BirdingLists

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Birding mailing-lists

With the advent of the World-Wide Web, birders have been using the internet to convey information; this can be via mailing lists, forums, bulletin-boards, web-based databases and other media [[1]]

Since the late 1990's birding mailing lists have sprung up across the globe in a variety of languages. Special-interest lists have been created to cater for bird-identification, 'twitchers', seabirds and raptor enthusiasts to name but a few.

Some lists are based solely on email whilst others use internet-browsers to deliver their messages. Most have some form of archive where previous posts can be retrieved. Subscribing is usually a simple case of visiting a web-site and entering details or sending a email.

Messages can be serious or trivial, notifying other members of a rare sighting, questioning the taxonomy or identification of a species, discussing field guides and other resources, asking for advice on birding trips or human guides, or organizing groups to help save habitat. Occasionally postings even get mentioned in academic journals and therefore can be a valuable resource for professional and amateur birders alike.

One of the oldest, Birdchat [[2] (based in the US) has probably got the most subscribers, followed by the English-language fork of Eurobirdnet [[3]], Birding-Aus [[4]] from Australia, SABirdnet [[5]] from South Africa. Orientalbirding [[6]], India [[7]].