Editing Birdwatching (section)

===Communication===
In the early 1950s, the only way of communicating new bird sightings was through the postal system and it was generally too late for the recipients to act on the information. In 1953 James Ferguson-Lees began broadcasting rare bird news on the radio in Eric Simms' ''Countryside'' program but this did not catch on. In the 1960s people began using the telephone and some people became hubs for communication. In the 1970s some cafés, such as that in [[Cley next the Sea|Cley, Norfolk]] run by Nancy Gull, became centers for meeting and communication. This was replaced by telephone hotline services such as "Birdline" and "Bird Information Service".<ref>Moss 2004:267–275</ref>

With the advent of the [[World Wide Web]], birders have been using the [[Internet]] to convey information; this can be via [[Electronic mailing lists|mailing list]]s, [[Internet forum|forums]], [[bulletin board systems|bulletin-boards]], web-based [[database]]s and other [[social media]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Peter |last1=Montague |first2=Maria B. |last2=Pellerano |title=Toxicology and environmental digital resources from and for citizen groups|journal=Toxicology|volume=157|issue=1–2|year=2001|pages=77–88|doi=10.1016/S0300-483X(00)00342-5|pmid=11164976|bibcode=2001Toxgy.157...77M }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first1=Kaisa |last1=Still |first2=Minna |last2=Isomursu |first3=Soili |last3=Vainamo |year=2005|title=Exploring the integration of community communication technologies: case birdwatchers|journal=International Journal of Web Based Communities|volume=1|issue=3|pages=346–359|doi=10.1504/IJWBC.2005.006932}}</ref> While most birding lists are geographic in scope, there are special-interest lists that cater to bird-identification, 'twitchers', seabirds and raptor enthusiasts to name but a few. Messages can range from the serious to trivial, notifying others of rarities, questioning the taxonomy or identification of a species, discussing field guides and other resources, asking for advice and guidance, or organizing groups to help save habitats.

Occasional postings are mentioned in academic journals and therefore can be a valuable resource for professional and amateur birders alike.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hailman |first=J. P.|title=Computer networking in ornithology ''in'' Computer Networking and Scholarly Communication in the Twenty-first-Century University (Eds. Teresa M. Harrison, Timothy Stephen)|pages=[https://archive.org/details/computernetworki0000unse_q8a0/page/167 167–175]|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-7914-2853-5|url=https://archive.org/details/computernetworki0000unse_q8a0/page/167}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ecology and Conservation of Owls: Proceedings of the Owls 2000, Canberra, Australia|first1=Ian |last1=Newton |first2=Rodney |last2=Kavanagh |first3=Jerry |last3=Olsen |first4=Iain |last4=Taylor |publisher=CSIRO Publishing|year=2002|isbn=978-0-643-06794-3|page=353}}</ref> One of the oldest, ''Birdchat''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.k-state.edu/audubon/chatguidelines.html |title=BirdChat Guidelines |access-date=6 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512012633/http://www.k-state.edu/audubon/chatguidelines.html |archive-date=12 May 2008}}</ref> (based in the US), probably has the most subscribers, followed by the English-language fork of ''Eurobirdnet'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://physis.pnw.fi/mailman/listinfo/ebn |title=EBN Info Page |access-date=6 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620060616/http://physis.pnw.fi/mailman/listinfo/ebn |archive-date=20 June 2008}}</ref> Birding-Aus<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html |title=Birding-Au |access-date=26 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060917233426/http://www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html |archive-date=17 September 2006}}</ref> from Australia, SABirdnet<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lists.nu.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/sabirdnet |title=Sabirdnet Info Page |access-date=6 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423190917/http://lists.nu.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/sabirdnet |archive-date=23 April 2008}}</ref> from South Africa and Orientalbirding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/news/emailgroups.html |title=OBC &#124; club news &#124; email groups |access-date=6 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704121852/http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/news/emailgroups.html |archive-date=4 July 2008}}</ref>