Subject: Re: Young Birders
Date: Jan 4 16:59:52 1995
From: Hal Opperman - halop at continuum.com



I agree with Al about the receptivity of the college age group. That,
coupled with a sense of independence and self-definition up to and including
it's-okay-to-be-different (as well as easier access to wheels) makes the
18-22 cohort a fine target. When I was a teenager not only was
transportation difficult, and "birdwatching" uncool, but there was also the
problem of not even owning a pair of binoculars, let alone being afraid to
display them. Optics of any usable quality were a luxury item. I got
started birding as a college freshman when a biology professor piled a bunch
of us into his station wagon one autumn weekend for an all-night drive to
Hawk Mountain (PA), then back to Illinois on Sunday afternoon and night.
With only the ancestral rudiments of the interstate highway system in
place. Any later than the early twenties and other responsibilities take
priority for most people I think, until the kids are grown up or maybe even
until retirement age. Birding, if taken seriously enough to become even
halfway good at it, is an incredibly time-consuming, self-centered activity
bordering on obsession. Being both solitary and competitive -- at least in
the way it's commonly practiced -- birding is fundamentally anti-social and
requires a well-above-average level of indulgence from one's close
associates.
----------
From: tweeters
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Young Birders
Date: Wednesday, January 04, 1995 4:14PM



My own personal experience is that it is incredibly difficult to be a
birder/naturalist at a young age, it is ctually a strugle to keep going.
First of all, it isn't cool. Big deal you say, well it was a huge deal when
I was 15. Your coolness has direct impact on you social status and your
overall happiness when you are a teenager. I remember me and a couple of
friends going out birding and hiding our binoculars when anyone approached,
a friend of mine ran home several kilometers rather than step onto a bus
where
he had a chance of running into schoolmates after a birding trip (binos
plainly visible).
Another problem is that young people have no money. No cash for magazines,
birdtrips, books, better equipment etc. I was lucky enough to be friends
with
Toronto birder Hugh Currie who lent me his copies of Birding and American
Birds. He also invited all of us teen birders out on twitches, so we got to
see lots of the birds we had only dreamed of before. The young birder that
doesn't get a chance to go out with someone with a car probably will get
bored
with the local chickadees, sparrows. Young people get bored easily.
For a young person, older people are really weird. They dress weirdly,
their
interests and conversations are dull, they don't like the same music that
you
do, and they can behave in ways that are just not logical to a teenager.
The competition between older birders can be intense and sometimes we (the
young guys) got caught up in it and frankly the older guys really forgot
that
we were only kids. I remember being in Hamilton, Ontario in the fall looking

at shorebirds at around age 14. A local birder was there and he was keen to
point out a Lesser Golden Plover out to me and my friend Karl. After staring
at it for a while, I was convinced that the bird was a Black-bellied Plover.
I mentioned this to Karl, who agreed. So I sheepishly pointed out that there
were a few features that were inconsistent with a goldie, but indicative of
a Black-bellied. Well I remember seeing this man almost explode in anger, it
was like Krakatoa all over again. He went on about how long he had been
birding,
how dare we...... bla bla bla. Eventually the bird took off and showed
beautifulblack wing pits, the birder stomped off and didn't say a word to
us.
Well,
it isn't easy to get yelled at by an adult when you are 14, it ruined my
week.
It was almost enough to make me wonder why I bothered, it was supposed to be
fun,wasn't it? Now that is just an extreme example, but it was very common
for older birders to disregard any of our opinions, etc. At that age you are
desperate to build up you self esteem, so being ignored was a drag. Mind you
when you did get some benefits from the hobby, like finding a rare bird that
others got to see, the self esteem jumped quite a few notches.
I could go on, but the basic fact is that at least during the teen years
it is a bit of a challenge for a young person to maintain their interest in
birds/nature. There are too many other things going on in a teens life to
have birds be a major part of their lives. The positive side of all of this
is that once you have grown up a bit and you start university you become
quite
open to things, including birding. I think that the real effort should be to
interest university age people in the hobby, this may be one of the most
receptive periods in one's life other than once one is much older. Perhaps
the
ABA should start trying to recruit people at college in some creative and
attractive manner.

Al Jaramillo
jaramill at sfu.ca
Vancouver, B.C.