Subject: Confessions of an Occassional Fashion Victim
Date: Jan 6 10:20:14 1995
From: Charles E. Vaughan - cev at rocket.com


Stuart MacKay wrote

>Why be a fashion-victim, instead do the kind of birding your
>resources allow.

I really agree with this approach 99% of the time but...

>Personally, I will never (never say never) go to Costa Rica (or Texas
>even) to go birding

Even though such trips are the exception for me I would advise any birder:
"If you get the chance, go for it". The experiences you will have in a new
environment are unforgetable and enhance your appreciation of your local
environment as well.

>If birders need to see, 400,500,600,700 species why don't they pay Dennis a
>visit. A trip to an exotic location to see birds is just as abstract.

No one will ever convince me that handling the skin of an Elegant Trogon
could match my solo early morning sighting of one in Cave Creek Canyon. It
was a *very* concrete experience surrounded by a lot of abstraction. Again,
I have only made 2 or 3 of these trips in 20 years of birding.

>"What do you contribute, by having a large ABA list ?" My reaction is,
other >than dropping a few dollars to local communities in the places you
visit - >nothing.

You will get no argument from me on this one.

>Why be a me-too when you can be yourself.

Generally solid advice, but when the fashion prompts you to go to Costa Rica
or the Rio Grand valley, or S. E. Arizona, or S. E. Asia, *and* an
opportunity presents itself, I would still say go for it. I think you can
get a lot of the benefits of other styles of birding without having to let
them take over your life.

Charles Vaughan
Woodinville, WA
cev at rocket.com