Local Club/Organization Newsletters Online

I posted this to BirdChat this morning:

As I browse around the web, I often find that many state/regional clubs or organizations publish their monthly/quarterly/etc. newsletters or journals online. These publications contain great information on local birds, bird identification, conservation issues, and many things that could be of interest to people outside of those organizations. Is there a web site somewhere that lists links to these publications? If not, do you think a list like that is something that people would find useful? Here are a few examples:

LA Audubon

Tucson Audubon

Point Reyes Bird Observatory

DVOC

eBird and Google

Let me start by saying that I LOVE my Google home page. It includes my Google Reader, news articles, weather, The Onion, a "to do" list, and a plethora of other things that I can choose from. Now, eBird is using Google's technology to create the eBird Rare Bird Google Gadget. Simply put, you can see an up-to-date list of rare birds seen in your area and link directly to a map of the location. The catch is that the bird has to be reported in eBird. As soon as someone reports it, it will display in the gadget. I'm as guilty as the next guy for not using eBird, but it is a great way to track your own sightings and to add to the global knowledge-base of bird population trends. I intend to start using it. So, if you use Google (and you should), be sure to check out this new, very cool gadget. Also, if you like this gadget or eBird, please promote it on your own blog.

Google Maps and Birding

Google Maps now has a feature called "My Maps." With this feature, you can mark locations on a map, add photos, write captions, and draw lines/circles/etc. You can then share a link to the map with anyone. I think this has a lot of potential for birding. It could be used to show the exact location of a rare bird or to create a map of great birding spots in your area. Just a few ideas... I'm sure there are many more great uses. As an example, here's a link to every baseball park in the US.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103763259662194171141.000001114c8ae7cac9869&hl=en&z=4&ll=36.738884,-96.767578&spn=34.132809,59.238281&om=1