GroupMe for Maine Rare Bird Alerts

[Doug Hitchcox]

As we begin 2022, it may be time to get bird alerts in Maine up to 2010 technology…

Following Massachusetts’ lead, and many thanks to Gates Dupont for advice, I’ve started a GroupMe for Maine. GroupMe is a group messaging app (available via Google Play or iOS App Store) that has a lot of advantages over listservs, especially for frequent and timely updates on rare birds. 

A few important things to note when joining:

1) When you join the group, you need to interact with at least one message in order to stay in the group. So, make sure you click “like” (the heart button) on any message after joining. 

2) Please keep posts concise and only about rare birds. Just like on this listserv, your messages will be going out to all the members, so keeping posts relevant and informative is appreciated. 

3) Please use the app or GroupMe on a browser to manage sms settings, like staying in the group (see 1) or leaving. Using the “Stay” command rather than just clicking “like” will cause everyone to get that message (see 2) and you cans instead follow these easy instructions.

Join here:

https://groupme.com/join_group/84170428/yK8UXk4M

I do want to acknowledge some hesitancy to have yet another place for reports to go out. Between this listserv (which is slow), eBird (which can be delayed and often lacks the necessary narrative), and more Facebook groups than I can keep track of (which have frustrating algorithms that may not even show you the most recent information), I do think that introducing GroupMe in Maine will give us a much better tool for communicating efficiently about rare bird sightings in the state. Many birders have been using the Massachusetts GroupMe for reporting updates on the Steller’s Sea-Eagle, which has worked great, but that has been diluting the value of it being a Mass-focused group. 

This listserv still has a lot of value and will still be an important place for getting messages (especially longer ones, like this!) out to the birding community. I’ve been running it since June 2010 and we are now over 1,600 members! Welcome to all the new folks interested in the eagle, and thanks to everyone who has kept this group going.

Doug Hitchcox

Maine-birds moderator

Maine Audubon, Staff Naturalist

etc, etc…