Introduction
Welcome to the Arkansas Audubon Society’s discussion list! The purpose of this list is to provide a forum for discussions relating to all aspects of wild birds and birding, including bird sightings, rare birds, bird identification, bird behavior, backyard birding, birding trips promoting AAS, trip reports, bird counts, bird club information, and bird conservation. The focus of this list is Arkansas, but other topics that may interest Arkansans are welcome, such as birds seen on an Arkansan’s trip to another country, or a flamingo in Kansas. If in doubt as to whether to post, ask list administrator Mitchell Pruitt, mitchellpruitt24@gmail.com.
By posting in this discussion list, you agree to follow the “etiquette” guidelines set forth on this listserv, which have been approved by the AAS Board. AAS welcomes all subscribers to use this communication method. It is open to people of all skill levels, from professional ornithologists to beginning backyard birders. However, all subscribers must adhere to the guidelines and rules. Failure may result in suspension or termination from the list.
Guidelines
Please be polite. The discussions on the lists are meant to stimulate conversation, not to create contention. Let others have their say, just as you may. Remember, you can choose to not read an email, delete an email, or block a sender. You can also reply to a sender off-list. Posts that offer intelligent, reasoned debate in a civil tone or argue a different point of view but are respectful of the poster and the list are welcomed. Posts that belittle, nitpick, attack, or insult other posters and their ideas are unacceptable. Know your audience. Recognize that your audience may have varying degrees of opinions and respect other points of view. Do not post emails with content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, racially or ethnically discriminatory, or otherwise objectionable.
Do not post about politics, unless the “politics” relates to policies impacting birds, birding, or habitat. From time to time AAS will ask its members and interested public to write or call to support or oppose proposed government actions. These “action alerts” related to birds in Arkansas are not politics as defined by AAS and the subject line will include the phrase “Action Alert.” If you want to post an action alert, ask the list administrator for permission to post. If you want to post anything else that does not fall under the topics listed above, ask the list administrator for permission to post.
Be specific about locations. Use of GPS coordinates is preferred, and any other relevant information, like whether the location is on private property. Remember, you are writing to people from all over Arkansas. A reference to a local hotspot that you know well may be meaningless to people from other parts of the state. Exceptions to this rule include locations of nests and sensitive species. A sensitive species is one that faces risks from humans of capture, targeted killing, or significant targeted disturbance of nests, roosts, or individuals, including disturbance from photographers and birders. Certain species become targets of these threats when the observation is shared promptly and with excessive details. Reports of sensitive species should not include exact locations and should be shared after the bird has moved, or in case of nests, after nesting is over.
See https://www.aba.org/aba-code-of-birding-ethics/ and https://www.audubon.org/magazine/spring-2021/tips-being-responsible-bird-photographer-social for more information about behavior in the field.
Be specific and concise in your selection of a subject heading. If the discussion stays true to the original topic, continue to use the original subject heading. If the subject changes, edit the subject heading.