Susan Collicott writes:>
(stuff deleted)
>
>I'd say women are still getting sidetracked by family commitments. Can't go
>dashing off to the Columbia River to see a gull, if little Joey has a cold and
>little Julie broke her arm while dirtbiking and Daddy is working/absent/asleep.
>Also can't give 10 hours a week to working through the 'politics' of volunteer
>organizations, if you also have to clean house, raise kids, work, put yourself
>through grad school, and actually *see* a bird. (not in that particular order,
>mind you!)
>

I couldn't agree more! The amount of time I could spend in the field took a
nose dive as soon as I had children. I have always noticed that the vast
majority of women I see birding are at or past the age when the kids leave
home.

But I think there is something else going on as well. When I was a
teenager, I wasn't a birder, but I loved going for walks in the canyons
around my Southern California home. My parents actively discouraged this,
due to their worries for my safety. I could only go if I took our large dog
along. I doubt that all those 12-year-old boys just starting their birding
careers had this problem. And, I have to admit, I still think twice about
birding by myself in some locations (for instance, one of the best spots in
the New Haven, CT area is basically off-limits to a lone female birder). If
the "best" birders start as teenagers, women are already at a disadvantage.

I myself began birding in college (Red-shafted Era). I was taking a field
ethology class, at UC Davis, during which we were supposed to study ground
squirrels. Just beyond the (intensely boring) ground squirrel colony was a
big oak with nesting Kestrels, Acorn Woodpeckers and Flickers. I was
hooked, foerever. But I rarely saw other female birders my own age.

Rachel Lawson
Seattle, WA
jbrown at halcyon