Recently a few thoughts on this subject were posted here. I do not reply to anybody in particular; these are just my own, loose, thoughts. Nor I try to criticize any thoughts posted earlier. We all have rights to our own opinion. First, in my opinion, reporting any bird here, or somewhere else, is a courtesy of the poster. Second, If somebody thinks that something is important it should do it itself; personally rare birds list with location posted on the same day when they have been seen is absolutely not important to me but knowing that this might be of interest to some people I do sometimes post if I saw one in popular place and I do not if I think they are in sensitive area where this or other birds' welfare can be compromised. What I think is 'sensitive\' it might not be to somebody else but my opinion is as valid as others. I wouldn't question their definitions. It is all relative. I understand that we have a few people calling themselves hard core birders and it seems like those, sometimes, are demanding that other people immediately post any interesting finding so they can go and have a tick. Personally I do not see much satisfaction from chasing birds found by somebody else and claim it on the 'list'. It also seems that the tactic of trying to make somebody feel guilty if he/her is not immediately sending the report can be used from time to time as well. BTW, it looks like somebody with a lot of money, private jet and horde of local guides could quite easy win big year or whatever it is called. To some degree this was already been done in the past. On the other hand, sure, I am checking eBirds to check migration dates (of common birds), etc. I would be much more grateful to people who only post county were it was seen but correctly IDed the bird. Unfortunately eBirds is just a mess as far as this goes. And yes, forums were birds and ID subjects were discussed in deep are practically gone. Not very good for all new bird watchers. And, I think these discussions are more important than posting rarities. Some people did not have time to learn ID birds yet but will jump plane to tick one that was found, and IDed, by somebody else (not always IDed correctly as we know of quite a few wild goose chases in the past - sure it is good for local economy ....). To me the bottom line is: if one is seriously interested in any bird groups it has to learn how to ID them himself (or end up with 5 or more different names for one bird if choose to keep asking for help) and learn how to find birds by himself (or keep checking on messages and have his car engine running all the time to jump in when rarity is posted). Mark B Bartosik Houston, Texas _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field) Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner