Ever been on a rare bird chase?
Birders often enjoy chasing birds that are hard to see in a given area. Keeping lists of bird species seen is extremely popular in the birding world, and in many cases, birders keep a worldwide list as well as a country list, state list, county lists, and even year lists for some or all of the locations. Listing is exciting, but can also mean that you’ll be tempted into dropping everything and speeding off to who-knows-where to chase a species that you may only have one shot at seeing in that area.
West Virginia Rare Bird Resources
If you want to keep in the loop on rare birds in West Virginia, here are four free resources you can use.
Mountain State Birders-WV »
This Facebook group is a hub for rare bird reports and general birding updates alike.
WV ListServ »
You can read or share information about rare birds in the ListServ, a long-time-running email subscription service. This resource is admittedly becoming less popular, but if you really want to keep up with rare bird reports, I suggest subscribing.
WV Rare Birds Text Group
This is a no-frills, no-small-talk, only rare bird alerts texting group started in 2021. To join this group, send us an email with your name and phone number, and we’ll get you added.
eBird Rare Bird and Needs Alerts »
With an eBird account, you can view or set up hourly or daily rare bird alerts for WV. If you use eBird to keep your bird lists, you can also view target species that you have not seen in any given area.
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