Subject: Re: To twitch or not to twitch - that is the question!
Date: May 21 16:40:56 1998
From: Tom Foote - footet at elwha.evergreen.edu




On Thu, 21 May 1998, Teresa Michelsen wrote:

[snip..]

>
> 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.

Teresa--

I think we've had part of this discussion before..i.e.,
last time it came around it was about birding methodology
which kind of fell out as the 2 schools of birding

1. run all over the place and add birds to your list
2. stay in one place and enjoy the birds that appear
in the venue in which your butt is parked. :)

but, we really haven't had cogent and succinct arguments
presented about why people go to great expense to find
particular birds that are accidentals..case in point
is those birders who hied off to Seattle to get on an
airplane to fly to Boise to rent a car to drive to see
the Siberian Accentor on somebody's feeder..
I thought it interesting that folks were doing that, but
I certainly wasn't interested in going to that trouble
for that bird, when I could go to the Nisqually Wildlife
Refuge and see what was going on there.


but to me the real pleasure is seeing a bird in its actual
habitat, and watching it do what it normally does.

I couldn't agree with you more on this one. Jim Pruske and
I talk periodically on the Bird Talk radio show about
methodology and we often try and talk about the relative
merits of the different approaches to watching birds.
One time the day after our show during which we had
a spirited discussion about listing or sitting still
and REALLY paying attention to the same old birds in
familiar environs, a woman on campus stopped me and
remarked how she really agreed with what we were
talking about as she often liked to just *veg* and
pay attention to the same old birds and that she thought
she wasn't birding *correctly* as she had no impulse to
run around and get birds on her list..and therefore she
was pleased that we validated what she liked to do.


Is this just a case of competitive listing, or is
there more to it than that?

yeah, I think so. When Eric Kraig stumbled on the Clay
Colored Sparrow in the Cheese Factory Clear Cut, that was
a real thrill for him..and a thrill for the rest of us
who went with him to see the bird..and I got into the
rhythm of it all by taking a birder friend out there
(think it was even on his birthday) and presenting him
with that bird as a sort of gift. I didn't have to
drive a long way, or expend a lot of energy I wouldn't
have done anyway going to that spot, but it was fun
seeing that bird...I don't think I'm arguing against
myself here as I saw the reports of CCSP in Spokane and
definitely would not have gone over there to see those
birds whether I had seen our Olympia bird or not.

so, it must be somewhat about competition..not necessarily
a bad thing, BTW...it's just the way it is.

that clear cut also had Lazuli Buntings which I had never
seen before..that was also a kick..

I guess I'll be looking for those arguments myself as
I think it's useful for those Tweets who list and
travel around to do it, to spin out their rationales..
I'd enjoy seeing those as this thread develops.

thanks, Teresa, for raising this question...

Tom