The list partitioning into rare and common birds is basically
illusory.  NJ makes a go of it but most of the rare birds are carried
on the "general" list, and often get there first.  If you compare the
rarity reporting this spring, BTBlue seems to have covered very few of
them.  Some have been reported here (NYSBirds) or eBirdsNYC (most).

What a lot of birders don't get is that it takes effort to do the
rare/common partitioning.  Jack Siler wrote software on
birdingonthe.net to pull species out of RBAs, but that's simpler since
RBAs have a fairly structured format.  Nevertheless that was clearly
some hours of coding to create that.  To run a rare bird list would
require an effort during migration that dwarfs the minimal effort
needed to clobber 20 emails.  But rather than complain about current
lists, ante up and put in that effort.  Ben C and Karen F take a
certain amount of time out of their lives to make sure that the RBA
now appears online.  Then there's the RBA compilers themselves, etc.
This stuff does not magically appear.

Probably one's best bet for someone that wants to put in no effort
would be something like the BirdsEye smartphone app, which relies on
Cornell's eBird reporting and can pull out unusual sightings in local
areas.  Of course, people have to report to eBird in the first place,
which circles back onto requiring some sort of effort.

Most people on lists join and read and do not post.  I understand why
this happens, but those people also need to understand that people
that *do* post take time out of their lives to do so.  And lost in
this whole discussion is one point: I think it's fair to say that
Ruby-throated Hummingbird is not a widespread breeder in NYC, although
perhaps someone will tell me if I'm wrong in that.

Phil

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