Chuck Gates:
>I know there is some disdain for
>a birder who just tries to pad his/her list.

I think the operative word is "just". I've met birders who have
tremendous life-lists but actually know diddley about ID, they just
spent lots of money on trips to lots of areas and hire good guides.

I don't know of any serious birder who doesn't seek new species, and
most of us keep a life list (I'm spectacularly lazy at mine, but I
still ran after the bar-tailed godwit as soon as I heard about it!)

If you were to ask us to run out and ID your birds for you, we might
greet such a request with disdain. However...

>Is there a written
>or unwritten rule about soliciting advise on "Tweeters"?

Not that I'm aware of! However, you might start with getting a
hold of Paulson and Wahl's guide to bird-finding in Washington,
and the Birder's Guide to Oregon we publish at PAS.

You'll find they can help you out most of the time, and a lot of the
time if you post to tweeters you'll end up with ten folk diving
for THEIR copy of these books! And the books contain maps, hard
to draw on character-only terminals.

But such guides can never give 100% information about every thing
you might want to know, so ask away! People might not part with
specific information regarding, say, spotted owls due to problems
with certain elements of the populace but in general, I've found
most birders to be very helpful.

BTW, since you live in Oregon, a burrowing owl has returned to
the Willamette Valley for the third straight winter. It's very
easily observed and photographed - if you want directions, e-mail
me!


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>