>Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 09:26:29 -0800
>From: dpaulson at ups.edu (Dennis Paulson)

> Are any of you tweeters either cheered or offended by
>Byron Butler's strong statements?

Generally cheered. Byron at times misses the (at least, my) mark, but he
often also nails the issue right on the head.

>You can also see what you're missing by
>not being on BIRDCHAT, but I don't see how *anyone* can handle the volume
>of messages on that nationwide list!

Now, Dennis, you _know_ the requirement for joining that club....
The big "R" word.

Now for particulars. Byron rightfully and compellingly argues that there's
lots to see, and all is not dull in summer, for those interested in birds
and nature. He gets into trouble when trying to give definitions to words
like "birdwatching" and "birding". It's not so much the content of the
definitions that are troublesome, but the attempt to assign and distribute
the several parts of those definitions to particular, commonly-used words
that is so. The particular assignments aren't worth arguing over, in
my estimation. The elucidation of the various components of the activities
that comprise "looking at birds" is worthwhile.

On the face of his statement regarding out-of-range, out-of-habitat
observations/records being "ornithologically meaningless", I don't
understand his perspective, and don't agree with the statement (but,
then again, I've got a cellar full of stuff that I've never thrown out...).
Peter

>>Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 00:16:23 -0400
>>From: Byron Butler (GD 1995) <bbutler at MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU>
>>Subject: May-August is dull. ?????!
>>
>>May-August is dull? Only for listers,
>>=====================
>>Date: Thu, 1 Jun 1995 01:01:32 -0400
>>From: "Byron Butler (GD 1995)" <bbutler at MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU>
>>Subject: Rarities = birding ???!!
>>
>>On Wed, 31 May 1995, Macklin Smith wrote:
>>
>>> I agree with Bob Lewis that looking for rarities is almost a
>>> definition of birding. ......[remainder deleted]...........
>>
>>I'm very surprised to see Macklin make this statement. Most of you will
>>recall that I make a very clear distinction between the terms "birder"
>>and "birdwatcher."
>>
>> Yes, new records are made,
>>but in general, they are ornithologically meaningless.