Hello Ontbirds Subscribers, OFO is happy to announce the launch of our revamped Ontbirds email listserv and new Birdnews listserv for sharing provincially rare bird sightings and bird-related news with fellow birders across the province.
Both listservs are available free-of-charge and available to all who are interested as a service to birders in Ontario. You do not need to be an OFO member to subscribe. *What has changed?* Ontbirds has been split into two listservs: Ontbirds for rare bird announcements and Birdnews for all other posts. All Ontbirds subscribers have been automatically subscribed to Birdnews. Users can opt out of one or both listservs, or change one or both to daily digests in the setup pages (see below for instructions). *Ontbirds *is now reserved for provincially rare bird announcements (RBAs) only, so birders across the province can quickly alert each other to the presence of a rare bird worth travelling to see. *Birdnews* is intended for less time-sensitive news and information – basically everything other than RBAs which was previously published in Ontbirds should now be published on Birdnews. This includes: location reports, hawk watch summaries, CBC reports, first of year reports, and more. *Ontbirds and Birdnews are open for use immediately!* Before posting, we ask you to please review the updated posting guidelines at http://www.ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines on the OFO website under Finding Birds. To send Ontbirds alerts, email: [email protected]. To post an announcement on Birdnews, email: [email protected]. *COVID-19 Precautions* Please abide by local and provincial COVID-19 regulations regarding physical distancing and non-essential travel when you are birding. *Meet the Ontbirds and Birdnews Moderators* Mike Burrell and Carter Dorscht are taking over as moderators of the listservs from Mark Cranford, who coordinated Ontbirds for close to 20 years! Thank you, Mark, for your amazing contribution! To contact our new moderators, send an email to [email protected] or [email protected], respectively. *Mike Burrell* Mike's been a birder since he was a kid growing up outside of Waterloo. He's passionate about community science projects like eBird and iNaturalist and has many volunteer roles related to birds including coordinating eBird review and Christmas Bird Count data quality in Ontario and serving as a voting member and archivist on the Ontario Bird Records Committee. Mike and his brother Ken recently authored the book Best Places to Bird in Ontario. Mike works as a zoologist with the Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre (part of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) and is based out of Peterborough. *Carter Dorscht* Carter is an avid birder, living in Echo Bay, which is just outside of Sault Ste. Marie. While always being interested in nature, he bit the birding bug about five years ago and hasn't looked back. He is an eBird Regional Reviewer for the Algoma District, coordinates local Christmas Bird Counts, and participates in a variety of other community science programs. Carter works for The Kensington Conservancy, a non-profit land trust, where he manages ecologically sensitive lands for their protection in perpetuity. He also leads guided birding tours throughout the Algoma District on the side. *Subscribing and Unsubscribing to the Listservs* Users can subscribe to one or both listservs. *Ontbirds:* To subscribe, unsubscribe or manage your Ontbirds preferences, visit the Ontbirds setup page at http://ontbirds.ca/mailman/listinfo/birdalert_ontbirds.ca. To subscribe to Ontbirds, send an email to: *[email protected]* <[email protected]> with *subscribe* in the subject line. To unsubscribe, send an email to: *[email protected]* <[email protected]> with *unsubscribe* in the subject line. *Birdnews:* To subscribe, unsubscribe or manage your Birdnews preferences, visit the Birdnews setup page at http://ontbirds.ca/mailman/listinfo/birdnews_ontbirds.ca. To subscribe to Birdnews, send an email to: *[email protected]* <[email protected]> with *subscribe* in the subject line. To unsubscribe to Birdnews, send an email to: *[email protected]* <[email protected]> with *unsubscribe* in the subject line. *Other Ontario RBAs and News Sources* OFO has also compiled a handy guide to all of Ontario’s publicly available provincial and regional rare birds alert and bird news services, including eBird, Discord, Facebook, and WhatsApp groups. This guide is available on OFO’s website at ofo.ca in the Finding Birds section at http://www.ofo.ca/site/content/ontario-hotlines-and-news. Good Birding, Lynne Freeman OFO President -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. Ontbirds is reserved for sightings of provincially rare birds. To post a message on Ontbirds, send an email to: [email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Ontbirds Moderators by email at [email protected]. Please review posting rules and guidelines at http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines To edit your membership settings visit the Ontbirds setup page at: http://ontbirds.ca/mailman/listinfo/birdalert_ontbirds.ca. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all Ontario birders should be taking extra precautions and following local, provincial, and federal regulations regarding physical distancing and non-essential travel. To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
