RI Rare Bird Alert GroupMe Guidelines

RI Rare Birds GroupMe Admin

3 min readDec 22, 2022

Admins:

Barbara Sherman, Sam Miller

Primary purposes

Quick news with breaking information about rare birds
Team efforts to clarify where and how to find especially important rare birds, or to keep track of a mobile one (like the Steller’s Sea-eagle)

Guidelines

Texts must be concise, non-redundant, and only about rare birds (see definition below), including location details.
When you join the group, immediately click the heart (♡) button on any message (otherwise the app will remove you; only need to do this once).
Do not text the group to say “thanks” (for any reason), as it clutters the group too much.
If a Rare Bird has been around for a few days, please do not report every sighting and movement of the bird. If you are the first to see the bird in the morning you can let folks know, but RI Birding is a better place for that after a few days.
Please remember that the vast majority of folks here are not intimately familiar with every corner of every county in the state, nor can folks read minds. So, when you post an observation here, please include ALL pertinent information that you would want when you were just starting out birding before heading out to see your great bird. For example, Was it a flyover? Which direction was it flying, Need Boots? Scope? Is it on private property — so perhaps birders are not welcome or is it visible from non-private property? Specifics on the bird’s last known whereabouts, particularly in larger properties. Would coordinates/pin be helpful? Each situation is different, but just a little common sense focused on this issue will go a long way.

The aim is not only to provide a way for everyone in this group to hear about rare birds quickly, but also to make our birding community as accessible as possible in the state. When information is incomplete it results in questions and banter that makes this group text less appealing for many users.

Definition of “rare birds”

Rare birds acceptable to text out to this group:

Birds indicated as Rare in eBird. eBird is not always 100% correct, please use your judgement when reporting.
Do not text out any sensitive species. This includes all owls. Err on the side of caution. Send a direct message to the admin or a more experienced birder if you are unsure.

Please note: be respectful when chasing any rare bird, whether on private or public property.

Non-smartphone users (flip phones)

First of all, please download the GroupMe app to your phone if you can; it will make your experience (and everyone else’s) much easier.

If you cannot download the app: the web browser version of GroupMe (GroupMe.com) is far more reliable than the SMS text commands. If you do not have the GroupMe app on your phone and are joining us via SMS texting (often a flip phone), please use your web browser to:

Fulfill rule 2 above (upon joining, immediately click a “like” on any message).
Manage all personal settings. This includes how you receive alerts from GroupMe. See the section below: “Too many notifications?”.

Too many notifications?

Navigate to GroupMe.com and log in, or to the GroupMe mobile app
From the chats panel, click this group
Click on this group’s thumbnail image at the top
Find Mute and click the gray toggle switch
Select “always”
If the Mute toggle switch turned blue with a check mark, you’re all set. Otherwise, start over.

In particular, sending “ STOP” does not do anything at all — please do not send that. Contact the admin directly if you are running into issues.

Have a comment that is not about a rare bird?

All messages not related to a rare bird must not take place on the RI Rare Bird Alert GroupMe. There is an RI Birding group for everything else.

If you have questions or issues related to the group, instead of texting the group you can either:

Direct message one of the Admins (Barbara Sherman or Sam Miller)

Instructions to join

Follow the link to join the GroupMe.

Instead of sending this link to someone, please ensure they have seen this page BEFORE they use the link.

The link: https://groupme.com/join_group/50747182/uGpVo2fR