I am 100% for helping young birders in the USA, afterall these young
birders many times don't just stay as young birders but take an interest
in preservation of birds. I'm a text book example of that when I was
beginning birding about age 10 I was encouraged by fellow birders and I
eventually decided a couple of years later that I wanted to go into
Ornithology as a profession. I'm still a couple of years away from that
but only one and a half more years for my undergrad Wildlife Biology
degree. Afterall every young person that gets interested in birding is
also a future spokesperson for Habitat/species preservation. I've seen
quite a few examples of simple examples like a bird oriented class turn
kids onto nature as well as field trips and project feederwatcher. One
message to tweeters is that if you have a chance to help out a young
birder do it! Trust me most will be grateful to that person who turned
them on to birding for a very long time, I know I am.

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA


On Fri, 17 Jan 1997, Barry Levine wrote:

> Mike,
> Encouraging young birders in this country could in the long run be of
> more benefit to these countries. Tourism, though it does not touch
> everyone economically, brings a lot of influence. Who knows, maybe our
> young birders will drop off their binoculars that have been donated when
> they visit these countries that schools have piqued their interest in.
> Students in this society usually choose a lot of material objects over
> binoculars. If we put them in their hands, a lot of good things can happen.
>
> Barry Levine
> Newport High School
> 4333 128th St
> Bellevue,Wa 98006
> levineb at belnet.bellevue.k12.wa.us
>
> On Fri, 17 Jan 1997, Michael Seamans (Write Stuff) wrote:
>
> > I fully support encouraging young birders, but I think if folks have
> > binoculars they want to donate, they should donate them to organizations
> > in developing countries that run environmental education programs. The
> > woman who runs the Belize Zoo runs programs like this, as does ProNatura
> > in Mexico. These organizations often run on budgets smaller than many
> > American households. Donating binocs to suburban American kids or to
> > American school systems (even with their tightening budgets) seems a bit
> > much to me. The average kid could give up a pair or two of new Air
> > Nikes if he or she wants some binocs. I can get some addresses from
> > organizations that would be excited to receive your old binocs or scopes
> > if you need them.
> >
> > Mike Seamans
> > Seattle, WA
> > a-mikese at microsoft.com
> >
> > >--------
> > >From: Peggi & Ben Rodgers[SMTP:woodduck at cruzio.com]
> > >At 11:01 AM 1/17/97 -0800, you wrote:
> > >>
> > >> ummmm... more mature age groups,
> > >>and was there a way to encourage younger birders? Perhaps SAS or
> > >>even Tweeters could start a fund specifically to supply binos and
> > >>field guides for schools.
> > >>
> > >That's a great idea, Kelly! Perhaps when some of us upgrade we could donate
> > >the old bins to the kids?
> > >
> > >"A bird does not sing because it has an answer,
> > > It sings because it has a song"
> > >
> > >
> >
>