Birding-aus equivalents in North America

[(Dr Richard Nowotny)]

Obviously there are equivalent systems to our very own birding-aus in North
America.  I would like to know what there is and how to get access to the
network - not to subscribe and receive all the correspondence but to be able
to ask an occasional birding-related question of the members of the network.
Can anyone help me?  Right at the moment I'm particularly looking for
something covering participants in northern California and Nevada, but I'm
interested in any available North American "chat-lines", including those for
Canada.
While I'm at it, does anyone know of any similar systems which can be
accessed for other countries?
Regards
Richard Nowotny