Birds and Birding in Forsyth County, NC and Surrounding area
Forsythbirds is a mailing list that serves as a forum to discuss wild birds and birding in Forsyth and surrounding counties, North Carolina.
Our goals are the following: 1) to provide the latest information on noteworthy birds in Forsyth and surrounding counties, 2) to share information on the status of migrating, wintering, and breeding species in the area, 3) to share current knowledge about identification of difficult species, 4) to share observations and information on bird behavior, 5) to help beginning birders become more proficient, 6) to discuss bird feeding and backyard habitat, 7) to share interesting experiences/sightings related to birding trips (e.g., snakes, butterflies, plants, etc.), 8) to announce news and events for the Audubon Society of Forsyth County, 9) to share information on conservation and environmental issues of concern to birds and birders, and 10) and to just have fun birding!!
In 2008, Wake Forest University began hosting forsythbirds for us. In ten years, our number of subscribers grew to 265 and we have shared thousands of event announcements for Forsyth Audubon, bird sightings, questions, ideas and stories. Wake Forest hosted our listserv as a community service and never charged us for its services. But, in 2018 the University decided to no longer host any listservs, so we moved Google Groups. Much has remained the same, especially our purpose: to serve as a forum to discuss wild birds and birding in Forsyth and surrounding counties including rare bird sightings, bird identification, bird behavior, backyard birding, trip reports, bird counts, and announce news and events for Forsyth Audubon.
A few things will be different. In addition to sending and receiving messages via email, you will able to go to the Google Groups web site to view and post messages if you have a Google account. On the web, messages are sorted by topic (subject in an email), so please use appropriate subject lines when posting so that it will be easy to follow the conversation. You will still be able to share photos, but there is no longer a size limit. Please be considerate by cropping your photos and don’t share multiple photos that are essentially the same.
IMPORTANT: You must sign up to participate in the forsythbirds Google Group. If you have a Google account (i.e. you are using Gmail or another Google service) and the main email address associated with that account is the one you want to use for forsythbirds, just click on this link to join https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/forsythbirds/join. If you don’t have a Google account and wish to create one, click on the “create an account for free” link on the Google Accounts homepage https://www.google.com/accounts/Login to create a new Google account and then click on the link above. Be sure to set your “display name” to your real first and last name or link to your Google account with that info. If you want to send and receive messages using an email address not associated with a Google account, just send a message to Heather Moir at moir.heather85@gmail.com. Be sure to give Heather your first and last name and tell her what bird you most want to see. Our group is public now and that will help identify you as someone who cares about birds.
This is also a great time to review our other Forsyth Audubon communication channels. First is our website https://forsythaudubon.org/ which has a wealth of information. This is the go-to source to see our calendar of activities, current news, and much more. Next, Forsyth Audubon is on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/forsythaudubon/. Like our page and join in the fun. Our Facebook page is the only place you will see some things such as sharing of posts from other like-minded groups. We also have a blog https://forsythaudubon.wordpress.com/. I describe our blog as stories of lasting value. This is where you can get a view into our group personality. Read about all kinds of adventures from weekend trips to owl rescues. Our blog also has stories about our Wood Thrush connection and other conservation projects. Our most popular post, “Prevent Bird-Window Collisions”, https://forsythaudubon.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/stop-bird-window-collisions/, has been viewed 1,886 times! Click on the “Follow” button on the right sidebar to receive email notification of new posts. And, finally, Forsyth Audubon also has an email list for those who wish to receive announcements of chapter events and chapter news. It does not include postings by members, recent bird sightings and birding information covered by the Google Group. To be added to this mailing list, send a request to Heather Moir moir.heather85@gmail.com. Be sure to specify that you want to be added to the EMAIL LIST.
FORSYTHBIRDS Archives:
To view previously posted messages, go to forsythbirds archives.