A rare bird alert (RBA) is a system for collecting and disseminating information about sightings of uncommon or unexpected bird species, usually specific to a particular region. Birders are known for sharing information with each other about the locations of unusual birds for recreation, documentation, or competition, and have used a variety of technologies to do so. Starting in the 1950s, telephone hotlines centralized reports using answering machines, replacing calling trees and becoming an important part of birding culture. Well over a hundred such lines operated in North America by the end of the 20th century. The internet, and especially eBird and social media platforms, largely replaced telephone systems in the 21st century, enabling real-time sharing with geographic precision. The speed and reach of internet-based alerts made birds and birding more accessible to the public, but have also led to controversy for the way they can draw crowds that may harass the birds.
Background Birders (or birdwatchers) observe birds for recreation, citizen science, or even competition. It is common for birders to seek out species that are rare (sometimes called "twitching"), either for the new observational experience, to better document patterns of migration and behavior, or to expand the size of a personal checklist of observed birds. Before rare bird alert hotlines, birders would use telephone calling trees whereby participants would, upon receiving a call, be responsible for calling a set list of other participants. This progressed to a centralized calling and answering service where reports would be centrally screened and then disseminated to members of the service, often for a fee.
Telephone
Rare bird alert hotlines, sometimes called dial-a-bird numbers, have been used to centralize bird sightings since the 1950s. Rather than a calling service, whereby one central location receives reports and then calls all subscribers, rare bird alert hotlines collect reports and disseminate summaries via answering machine messages. Reports come through messages left on the machine, postal mail, email, or other communications. While the information provided on some alerts is simple, others include details about the bird and its identification, or instructions for where and when to find it. In some cases, they include other bird-related news unrelated to immediate sightings. The first RBA hotline was the Voice of Audubon operated by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, covering the eastern half of the state. It appeared amid a trend of hotlines created with new recording technology, alongside services like weather reports. Existing phone calls overwhelmed Audubon's phone system, and the organization saw an answering machine as a way to centralize the activity. It went live in 1954, run by staff member Ruth Emery. The Western Voice of Audubon launched a decade later to cover the other half of the state. Years later, as equipment prices came down, the DC-area Audubon Society launched in 1968. In New York City, the Audubon Society and Linnaean Society co-sponsored a rare bird alerts phone line called the Metropolitan Rare Bird Alert System starting around 1970, listing rare species as well as detailed directions about how to find them. Susan Roney Drennan wrote in American Birds that the NYC line was the "creme de la creme of RBAs", with recordings typically running about six minutes including detailed descriptions of birds and directions to see them, as well as upcoming bird-related events, and current conservation issues. "A new caller senses he is watching, from a box seat, the current ornithological pageant pass in view". As of 1973, the Massachusetts alerts received about 1,000 calls per week and the New York City line received 500. Audubon magazine called telephone RBAs "one of birding's most historical and influential institutions" which "once set the rhythm for the lives of serious birders. The dispatches and the pursuits that followed were ritualized, narrow, and highly curated." There were about 150 rare bird alert lines in the United States and Canada by the 1990s. Most were run by non-profits, individuals, or other small groups, but there was at least one commercial service, a national hotline called the North American Rare Bird Alert (NARBA) that had answering machine-based recordings as well as a calling system whereby subscribers could elect to receive all reports or just those of certain species. Though the internet largely rendered phone-based hotlines obsolete, a small number remain. The Metropolitan Rare Bird Alert System is active as of 2025, run by the same person, Tom Burke, for nearly forty years. The most active remaining hotline is the Bobolink Area Rare Bird Alert in Ohio, run by Amish birders who do not use the internet.
Pagers Systems like BirdNet and SwiftAlert use pagers to notify users of bird sightings. These were especially popular in Europe, although NARBA also supported pagers.
Internet
Email Many email-based listservs emerged by the early 2000s, with reports collected by a single address and then disseminated to list members. For example, BirdEast, BirdWest, and BirdCtr were lists operated by the National Bird Hotline Cooperative. Some email services were limited to alerts while others encouraged discussion of identifications and socializing.
Social media
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