Eric sez:

>In the end, I'll take what I can get. But I often wonder if there as many
>birders who get excited about a bushtit as a Cooper's? Or are there more,
>but silent?

On the banding project I work on, we for years had a fair share of
"raptor maniacs" who didn't care in the least for "dicky birds".

"There are two kinds of birds: raptors and raptor bait". (The quotes
mean I'm not saying this, but am quoting a common attitude).

I, and a couple of other broad-minded folk who joined the project
at about the same time, have been working to use this raptor interest as
a lever to broaden the bander's interest in birdlife as a whole. And
the person who found the site and started the project is an excellent
birder as well as being wildlife biologist who specializes in raptors.

So, last night I was pleased to get a call from a friend who joined
the project five years ago at the age of twenty. I took her up to
Samish Flats after that first season and she couldn't be bothered
to look at swans or ducks, much less dunlin or songbirds.

And last night she called up for advice on which birdsong CD to buy.
Such a change!

We've been hiring more folks with field experience banding dicky
birds, though, and the last couple of years have been a pleasant
change. Of course, we're there to work with raptors, but it is
nice when someone calls out on the radio "varied thrush in the
station!" - not only that they recognize this common bird, but
that they recognize that they're an uncommon bird to see in the
middle of the Great Basin! And a couple years ago we had "all three"
finches (the "lookalikes" - cassin's, house, purple) in brush and
trees up at our observation point and it was fun to see several
raptor maniacs closely studying them (purple finch sightings in
the Great Basin are exceedingly rare, as well).

Perhaps it is just increasing maturity, both of our project and of
the participants.

We all gotta work on that Tom Foote, though - maybe he needs a
"twelve order" rather than "twelve step" program (start at the
front of the birdbook, Tom!)

-Don Baccus-