Message posted to Carolinabirds on 4 January 2017:
Better late than never - we have a milestone to celebrate!
Carolinabirds was announced to unsuspecting Birdchat subscribers on a Friday the 13th, way back in December 1996, 20 years ago! The list is almost old enough to drink...
The idea hatched when Jeff Pippen and I were chatting in the lab about how it would be nice to have an email list like Birdchat with a more local focus. I'd briefly subscribed to Cayugabirds (preparing for a trip to New York state) and got the idea for the name of Carolinabirds from that. Some time later, when I was bored, I sent in a request to the Duke IT folks to request a new majordomo email list (we don't have LISTSERV at Duke). I'd nearly forgotten about it when, after returning from a Botany Department Christmas party, I received an email that the list had been set up. I sent out an announcement to Birdchat (see original message below, preserved in the Birdchat archives) and within a month the list had over 100 members. It's only been growing since then!
It's been another great year for the list for the most part - thanks, folks, for helping to make this group a success and keeping Carolinabirds friendly as we keep growing!
My annual report on our subscribers is below... feel free to email me with your location if you might have been left out of this breakdown and would like to be included next time.
Total subscribers on 12/19/2016: 1514 12/14/2015: 1472 12/15/2014: 1389 12/13/2013: 1319 12/13/2012: 1241 12/15/2011: 1133 12/13/2010: 1033 12/18/2009: 997 12/16/2008: 947 12/13/2006: 787 12/13/2005: 712 (519 regular, 193 digest mode) 12/13/2004: 602 (465 regular, 137 digest) 12/13/2003: 570 (474 regular, 96 digest) 12/13/2002: 529 12/13/2001: 545 12/13/2000: 506 12/13/1999: 438 12/13/98: 368 12/13/97: 262 1/13/97: 104 12/14/96: 17 Where we live: 1 Belgium 3 Canada 2 Costa Rica 1 France 1 Scotland 1 Sweden 1263 United States 242 unknown US states (30 states + DC) 798 NC (62.7% of known locations) 240 SC (18.9%) 45 VA (3.5%) 36 GA (2.8%) 21 TN (1.7%) 14 FL 12 NY 11 CA 10 MD 9 PA 8 OH 6 DC 6 IL 5 IN 5 KY 5 MA 5 MI 4 CT 3 NJ 3 TX 2 AZ 2 DE 2 ME 2 MN 2 NH 2 OR 1 AK 1 CO 1 NE 1 WA 1 WI Breakdown of NC+SC subscribers by region: 290 Coastal Plain 29.4% 589 Piedmont 59.6% 109 Mountains 11.0% 161 NC Coastal Plain 21.0% of NC subscribers 496 NC Piedmont 64.8% 108 NC Mountains 14.1% 129 SC Coastal Plain 57.8% of SC subscribers 93 SC Piedmont 41.7% 1 SC Mountains 0.4%
With 1038 subscribers in the Carolinas, that's a whopping 0.0069% of the total population of the states! Who says birding isn't popular?
As always, the biggest cluster is still in the Triangle area (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill), with 322 subscribers (25.3% of total), followed by the Charleston area (72), the Triad (58), Charlotte (51), and Asheville (48).
Breakdown by sex (estimated from names): 553 female (39.5%) (unchanged over last few years) 847 male (60.5%)
Happy new year birds!