Regional Rare Bird Alerts and Chat Groups

Discord

Discord has regional rbas and chat groups for all sections of the state. It is replacing all of the groups below. However, the groups below will continue until the owners decide to discontinue them.

NAME: SEPRBA

App: GroupMe

Southeastern Pa from York and Dauphin counties east/south to border

Group Owner: ?

For reporting local rarities such as scoters, Red-necked Grebes, Iceland and Glaucous gulls, Dickcissels, Clay-colored Sparrows etc., birds that are not reportable to PORC, but still rare for the area.

NAME: SouthCentPARBA

App: GroupMe

Southcentral Pa including Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Blair, southern Huntingdon, Fulton, Franklin, Juniata, Perry, Cumberland, Adams

Group Owner: Mike Lanzone

NAME: WesternPA-RBA

App: GroupMe

Western PA – Greene north to Erie diagonally down to Indiana south Fayette

Group Owner: David Yeany

The WesternPA-RBA is meant to be used solely as an alerting system. “Chatting” is not tolerated on this list. Please limit your posts to reporting only rare birds, very significant events like major fallouts, and pertinent questions to other users about rare birds (for example, clarification on an exact location).
Do not post common birds and do not reply with unnecessary messages like “thanks” or “cool!”.
In your posts, please always include the species name unambiguously spelled out (no banding code abbreviations), the county name, and as exact a description of the location as possible within a relatively short text message. GPS coordinates are useful if available.
Don’t write a novel describing the location or the situation… provide your cell number in the post if people would need to call you for complicated information.
Don’t post birds from inaccessible or private locations that other birders would not be able to visit anyway.
WesternPA-RBA covers all of western Pennsylvania from the Ohio border east to and including Somerset, Cambria, Indiana, Jefferson, Forest, and Warren counties. Occasionally “extralimital” major rarities (ABA-level rarities) in eastern Ohio may also be reported to WesternPA-RBA.
Please also note that WesternPA-RBA originated as an Allegheny County-specific alerting service, and most of the users are based in Allegheny County or are at least very interested in listing there. As a result, occasionally Allegheny County birds are reported to WesternPA-RBA that would otherwise not be noteworthy elsewhere in western Pennsylvania. Examples are species like Prothonotary Warbler, Marsh Wren, and the like. These Allegheny posts are acceptable (and encouraged!) but should not be posted from other counties … in general just use your judgment. It’s better to report something than not report something and if you report something that is out of scope for the list, the list owner will let you know.

NAME: Central PA RBA