Dennis writes:

After all these years, I finally get to report a rare bird on tweeters!
The Bristle-thighed Curlew was the bird I most wanted to see in the world,
but because I have a policy of "no SOBs" (no stake-out birds), ...
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I'm glad I'm not the only one! I really enjoy birding, but somehow I just can't get motivated to run around the state looking for birds that (often) don't belong here. No offense to listers (I always keep a list myself), but to me the real pleasure is seeing a bird in its actual habitat, and watching it do what it normally does. I'm a little bit curious what makes a birder jump out and go see a scissor-tailed flycatcher in WA, when they can be easily seen in Mexico in their normal habitat.

Now, I'm not speaking of birds you might never get to see otherwise. If your budget, other constraints, or the bird's normal difficult-to-reach habitat makes it probable that you would never see the bird otherwise, then it makes sense. Another exception would be birds that do belong here, but are just very rare (only visit occasionally in migration, for example). From the sound of it, Dennis' BTCU may fit into one of these categories.

But many of the people that run out to see out-of-place birds have probably had plenty of chances to see them in other habitats. For example, the black-throated blue warbler that was on Mercer Island a few years back. So I'm throwing the floor open to you all (with some trepidation) - what makes it more interesting to see this bird off-course in Washington at someone's backyard bird feeder, than in migration on the east coast or elsewhere in its normal haunts? Surely it's not acting "normally", so you won't learn as much about the bird as you would otherwise. it may even die if it's badly off-course. To me there's something sort of morbid about chasing a bird to put it on your state list that's confused and may not live through its mistake. Documenting the event for science is one thing, but it only takes one or two people to do that. Is this just a case of competitive listing, or is there more to it than that?

Looking forward to some interesting replies... also wondering if anyone else has "rules" or preferences about which birds they will go and see.

Teresa Michelsen
avocet at halcyon.com