Janet Hardin:

>Okay, guess I'm becoming a more vocal tweeter -- the postings on age and
>sex of birders caught me.

>Though I don't remember the date, I clearly remember the incident and the
>species that hooked me for good as a birder. I was eleven years old and
>attending a summer girl scout camp. The bird was a dead meadowlark. To
>answer Don Baccus' question, this was in the days of "Duck Hawks."

Guess it's time for me to 'fess up. I'm a post "Duck Hawk", but
"pre Common Flicker" birder. I've been a casual backyard birder
all my life (grew up in what was then semi-rural Lake Oswego), though
originally I wanted to be an icthyologist 'til I found out I was a
software engineer at age 15. But I kept my interest in biology alive
through the years, and always had binoculars in my life. I got more
serious about birding after being kidnapped for what turned out the
be the first Portland Audubon "Gonzo" birdathon fundraiser. On this
first effort we identified about 145 species, which amazed me, especially
when I found out what a lowly performance it was. And then I was
kidnapped for the board of PAS and decided I'd better get serious
about birding out of self-defense.

I'm not a big rarity chaser - I've travelled all my life so would
rather just go to SE Arizona, say, than drive two hundred miles to
see some (*&*&^%& grackle that is seriously lost! I still like
looking at mallards when the light's right...and, unlike many birders,
I love starlings and pigeons - they make excellent lure birds for use in
capturing sharpies and Coop's for banding!

-Don Baccus-