Date: 11/13/24 7:37 pm From: Richard Littauer <richard.littauer...> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] Where have all the postings gone?
Listservs are less addictive, common, or retentive than multipurpose apps.
Facebook offers more reasons to stick in the platform and comment than your
inbox; it is built that way, by design.
eBird and iNaturalist do not facilitate easy communication. The former has
no comment feature, although sightings are shared among people who
subscribe to alerts or who peruse hotspots or top lists. The latter focuses
on single instances of observations, if you have a good enough camera or
audio setup. Both of these serve different functions.
There are also community groups: there is a Vermont birder Slack, largely
for reporting rarities, which is more time-sensitive. Washington County at
least also has two WhatsApp groups, one for rarities, and one for general
chat.
One issue with this listserv, besides competition for attention from
Facebook, iNaturalist, WhatsApp, and Slack, is that this listserv is not
moderated. There are no stated goals beyond "about birds", which means
that, for some, there may be more noise than signal. I know many excellent
birders who have left the listserv because they did not feel it was
providing them with what they wanted out of a listserv.
R
On Thu, Nov 14, 2024 at 1:39 AM Maeve Kim <maevekim7...> wrote:
> I think many people are now posting to the Facebook birders page, but I
> think the older comments on the listserv were often more specific and
> informative. I miss them!
> I post to ebird and iNaturalist regularly. And I’m delighted to see that
> my excitement about Whitney Creek/Hospital Creek got other people there -
> and the shorebird bonanza continues!
> Maeve Kim, Jericho Center
>
> > On Nov 13, 2024, at 5:48 AM, J J Allen <jjapple88...> wrote:
> >
> > Hey everyone,
> > Are most of you posting bird sightings on eBird or iNaturalist or ???
> > Just wondering about the gradual decline over the years to this list
> serve.
> > Thank you,
> > Jeffrey Allen
> >
> >> On Nov 13, 2024, at 00:00, VTBIRD automatic digest system <
> <LISTSERV...> wrote:
> >>
> >> There is 1 message totaling 43 lines in this issue.
> >>
> >> Topics of the day:
> >>
> >> 1. 12 November 2024: Hurricane Hill (1,100 feet), WRJ
> >>
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:51:07 -0500
> >> From: Ted Levin <tedlevin1966...>
> >> Subject: 12 November 2024: Hurricane Hill (1,100 feet), WRJ
> >>
> >> 6:19 a.m. (twenty-one minutes before sunrise). Forty degrees, wind
> >> Northwest 15 miles per hour, gusting to 35. Wild dawn. Inexorably windy.
> >> Sky cloaked in gray, steadily moving, thick and textured—then, a crack
> in
> >> the mantle: four lines of pink above the southeast corner of Hurricane
> >> Hill. Color spreads and intensifies, kindling the heavens. Hurricane
> Hill,
> >> capped in orange, intensely bright, spreads northeast above the mouth of
> >> the White River over the ridgeline and south beyond my sightline—a
> jubilee
> >> of color that lasts minutes ... ah, but what gorgeous minutes they are.
> >> Trees are in perpetual motion, rubbing and creaking and stirring. The
> >> seedheads of goldenrod become weather vanes. The last leaves loosen and
> >> launch. Five species of birds: barred owl, American crow, blue jay,
> >> black-capped chickadee, and tufted titmouse.
> >>
> >> A blue jay imitating a red-tailed hawk—sharp voice piercing the
> wind—fools
> >> me. A black bird in an angry sky, a crow heads northwest at a snail's
> pace,
> >> wind-buffeted, up and down, above a landscape in turmoil. Another crow.
> >> Another joy ride.
> >>
> >> Below the brooding hemlocks, a barred owl on an oak limb above the edge
> of
> >> the road, searching. Fourteen cervical vertebrae rotate softball-size
> head.
> >> The owl looks behind her. Looks in front. Head almost spinning.
> >> Shortchanged, I have only seven. To look behind me, I rotate my hips.
> Owl
> >> rotates her head. Dark eyes scanning. Asymmetrical ears filter out
> >> background noise—discriminating between footfalls and restless branches.
> >> Then, the owl slips into the dead air of the hemlocks—a silent departure
> >> like the coming and going of daydreams.
> >>
> >> Sunrise doesn't get any better than this.
> >>
> >> ------------------------------
> >>
> >> End of VTBIRD Digest - 10 Nov 2024 to 12 Nov 2024 (#2024-107)
> >> *************************************************************
>
