To Dennis, Mike and all: Here I go jumping back on this thread...
There's a tendency becoming apparent to oppose the biological to
the social in our explanations. In fact the two can never be separated,
but are woven together in different patterns from before birth and onward,
indeed from before conception. The trick is to sort out which threads are
coming from where and at what points in the life-cycle. Certainly men and
women are different, and certainly their respective hormone mix is
heavily involved in these differences. But how?
To pull apart some threads: suppose, as suggested, testosterone
has something to do with obsessive recreating and/or competitiveness,
this would kick start men at a younger age into activities like birding,
while accounting for a delay until mid-life in the appearance of women who
are on the same 'temperamental wavelength.' Young women, on a different
temperamental wavelength, however, may be entering the natural sciences -
including ornithology - at a greater rate just in this generation, due to
the big sociological chnges going along with
the women's movement. Putting these different wavelength women to one
side for the moment, lets just consider the social and educational
fallout of one sex acquiring its interest early in life and the other
much later. The early starters would be the ones likely to dominate the
field academically and in terms of achievements that require more
education and a longer history of field experience. The late starters
might prove just as obsessional, and just as talented at the twitch, but
they will be unlikely to become career people. Inasmuch as the field
becomes male early-stater dominated, it becomes less easy for women of
any sort to feel at home there, or even to *be noticed* when they do put
in their appearance. This, I feel, describes the situation that currently
exisits; but I don't imagine things will stay this way, indeed, as one of
our threaders (Dennis?) pointed out, a radiation of non-anglos, non-males
into ornithology and advanced amateur birding, is already apparent.

Harriet Whitehead
Washington State U.
whitehea at wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu