Rare Bird Network is now on Facebook

Just a quick update to let everyone know that Rare Bird Network now has a Facebook Page!

The Facebook Page will provide rarity highlights as well as topical birding news. This means that we can post links and stimulate discussion about birding matters that we think you'll find interesting and focus our tweets a little bit more on sightings news.

Although there will be a certain degree of overlap between what's being tweeted and what appears on Facebook it's hoped that the two will work well together and also independently if you're only on one of the social networks.

So if you're on Facebook why not pop over and give us a "Like"?

Here's the link... www.facebook.com/RareBirdNetwork

Creating the perfect tweet

With more people now adopting the Rare Bird Network hashtags it seems like a good idea to go through a brief "best practice" guide on how to tweet when you're using one of the hashtags.

A few common errors are highlighted in the tweet below. Firstly, starting a tweet with @rbnUK means that the only people who can see it are Rare Bird Network and those following Rare Bird Network and you. By adding @rbnUK later on in the tweet, the tweet will be seen by all your followers and Rare Bird Network. This means other people can pick up on your tweet and give it a retweet without our involvement, increasing the chances of the news spreading more quickly.

Remember, it's not essential to put @rbnUK on every tweet, just copy us in if you really think it'll be of interest to people outside your county.

Secondly, although it's a nice record of birds they're probably not of great interest to many other people. For this reason it's best to avoid tweeting very common bird species (unless, for example, it happens to be a really good count of species at a migration hot spot, or an interesting record for the county). There are no hard and fast rules but have a quick think before tweeting and tagging.

If you're a bit unsure on what birds not to tweet about there's a list of common species at the bottom of this blog post that should generally not be included in the tweet. Although you may decide that you want to include one or two of them whilst tweeting about a less common bird.


Tweeting common species

The tweet below is much better, it covers several species that would be of interest to the majority of birders and the @rbnUK is not at the start of the tweet. The problem with the tweet below is there's no gap before the hashtag #rbnLIN. If there's no space before and after the hashtag the hashtag won't work!

Also, try to make sure when using the hashtag that the county part is in capitals. In the example below  #rbnLIN has been as opposed to #rbnlin this makes it much easier to see which county/region is being referred to.

No gap!

The next tweet is perfect, there's plenty of information and it's concise and to the point. Although not essential, the main species has been highlighted using capital letters directing the reader of the tweet to the "star bird".

Nice tweet!

Below is a good example of how to use the hashtag #rbnMEGA It gives more detail of how to find the bird (which has again been highlighted using capitals) and all other species have been omitted. @rbnUK has again been added so we can make sure it gets a retweet to all Rare Bird Network followers.


#rbnMEGA

In Summary

• Don't start your tweet with @rbnUK
• Don't add @rbnUK unless you think the bird is of great interest to other birders
• Don't tweet about just common birds
• Do leave a gap either side of the hashtag
• Do end the hashtag with the three letter county code in capital letters
• Do use capital letters to highlight the "star bird"
• Do add plenty of information if you want people to find the bird

Thanks for taking part in Rare Bird Network!

List of Common Species typically omitted from tweets

Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Greylag Goose
Canada Goose
Shelduck
Wigeon
Gadwall
Teal
Mallard
Pintail
Shoveler
Pochard
Tufted Duck
Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Goosander
Sparrowhawk
Common Buzzard
Common Kestrel
Red-legged Partridge
Pheasant
Moorhen
Coot
Oystercatcher
Lapwing
Golden Plover
Grey Plover
Ringed Plover
Black-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Curlew
Common Redshank
Common Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Knot
Dunlin
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Black-headed Gull
Guillemot
Feral Pigeon
Stock Dove
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Cuckoo
Tawny Owl
Common Swift
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker
Skylark
Swallow
House Martin
Pied Wagtail
Meadow Pipit
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
European Stonechat
Northern Wheatear
Blackbird
Fieldfare
Redwing
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Sedge Warbler
Reed Warbler
Willow Warbler
Chiffchaff
Blackcap
Garden Warbler
Common Whitethroat
Goldcrest
Long-tailed Tit
Coal Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Nuthatch
Common Treecreeper
Yellowhammer
Reed Bunting
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Siskin
Goldfinch
Linnet
Bullfinch
Lesser Redpoll
House Sparrow
Starling
Jay
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow

Free Bird Alerts sent to your Phone

Over the last few weeks here at Rare Bird Network we've been busily trying to find a way of setting up a system so that when we send a tweet with a specific hashtag you can receive an alert on your phone. Now we've found out how!

I'd originally started looking at whether it was possible to be alerted by one of the big Twitter clients (Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Tweetbot). I looked into it and discovered that Tweetdeck originally offered this service but it had been removed (or at least it's been removed from the iPhone app). I've registered with them for it to be added to future upgrades so if anyone would like to see this too then get in touch and I can send you a link so that you can also register your interest.

Then just yesterday one of the rbnUK followers, Londonbirder69 tweeted that he'd found a site for Twitter alerts! The site is called ifttt.com and basically you create a search and when that search is found an alert is sent either by email or SMS. There are various other functions to be played around with but for us those are the most interesting.

Below is a screenshot of setting up an email alert to be sent to my phone when the hashtag #rbnMEGA is used.

Screenshot of setting things up

With this set up the next thing to do was give it a test, send a tweet and include the hashtag.

Sending the tweet

Once the tweet was sent it was just a matter of sitting back and waiting for the email to arrive.

The email alert



The email alerts seem to take up to a maximum of 30 minutes but are generally much quicker. I've no idea how long it takes for an alert to be sent out from one of the paid services, but this is a completely free bird alert service!

So if you want alerting the next time we tweet #rbnMEGA or one (or more) of your local area hashtag codes get over to ifttt.com and register for an account. It's pretty straightforward to set things up and should only take a few minutes.

Once registered, follow this link https://ifttt.com/recipes/59615 to receive an email alert whenever we tweet about a new mega turning up. If you want you can alter the "recipe" for example you can change how you receive your alerts, if you'd rather receive them by SMS or Pushover. It's also possible to alter the hashatg so that you'll receive an alert whenever we tweet about a bird in a county of your choice.

I understand that SMS messages are charged for at your providers basic rate, though I have not yet tried the SMS service myself so cannot confirm it.

At some point in the future the plan is to have an all singing and dancing Rare Bird Network app, but as everything is self funded at the moment this may take a while to reach fruition. So until that day this is a fantastic work around.

I'd really like to thank Londonbirder69 for getting me on to this, without their input it would undoubtedly have taken much longer for a decent alert service to be set-up. If anyone else has any other suggestions or comments on ways of receiving phone alerts please get in touch.

UPDATE: Unfortunately Twitter have recently changed the way that third parties can use their information. This means that (for the present time at least) IFTTT can no longer provide hashtag alerts. Please click on this link for alternative methods of getting alerts sent to your phone.

Off to a flying start

We've been busily Tweeting away for just under three weeks and the Rare Bird Network website was launched two weeks ago. So, what's happened in this time?

With over 150 Twitter followers and almost 1500 web hits there's certainly been a good deal of interest.

Numerous hashtags are now being regularly updated by some of you, notably #rbnSFK #rbnKEN #rbnLND and #rbnGWY There are several other hashtags now in use but those mentioned are perhaps the most active at the moment. So if you've not adopted a hashtag yet, what's stopping you?

One possible reason is that you already use a different hashtag. If you bird in London maybe #LondonBirds or if you're a Gloucester birder #GlosBirds. But there's really no reason why you can't use an RBN hashtag as well, it only uses 7 characters of the 140 you can use in your Tweet! If sometimes you can't fit in one of our hashtags it's no great loss but the more you use it the more you'll help the increasing number of birders who are using Rare Bird Network.

We're obviously not going to see an overnight change in the way birders use Social Networking but it's hoped that rarebirdnetwork.co.uk will become a bit of a central point where people can visit us and pick up the relevant information that they need to find out what's going on and where. That's why we're also developing a comprehensive map of blogs and websites that are all regularly updated with bird sightings from across the UK.

What you've been saying about RBN on Twitter 

"...Have you seen this? Looks like beginning of a useful system...(it's) about setting up a national system. Need to introduce some common standards...Early days yet. Won't work if we don't all get involved."

"I think we should all use the hashtags suggested by Rare Bird network; it will benefit all UK Birders..."

"Come on Birders start using #rbnUK"

"@rbnUK the very best of luck. You have my full support. #birding"

For Rare Bird Network to succeed it's all about you, it needs your involvement, it needs you to persevere, it also needs you to encourage others to become involved. By helping spread the message of what we're trying to achieve (a free bird sightings service that covers the whole of the UK) you can make it succeed.

Thank you to everyone who's followed us on Twitter, used one of our hashtags and spared the time to read this. It really is appreciated! :)