Adam Smith writes:

> I vote for MD only with reservations for rare birds in close by areas. I 
> agree with many of the other posters, mostly since MD is so small. Now 
> there should be limits to this as well. Maybe Very Uncommon to Rare etc 
> only can be listed for areas outside of MD. This past winter I like seeing 
> the posts about the Short-eared owls and I actually got my Life bird at 
> Gettysburg after trying many years in MD. Also, consider if the Lapwing was 
> in PA and we were not allowed to mention it on our site. How would the word 
> gotting out to MD birders. I again do not want to subscribe to lists for 
> DC, PA, VA, DE and NJ. 

The guidelines I give to new users (and the ones I posted here a month or so back) clearly state that announcements of rare or unusual species from neighboring states is just fine.  I just don't want long discussions of the birds after that first announcement, which I think is reasonable.

Thanks for your comments, Adam!

Norm