Subject: Jinx birds and Jynx birds
Date: Nov 7 12:54:06 2001
From: Wile, Mike - mike.wile at attws.com


I still kind of like the thread. It would be interesting to hear from other
birders what species have eluded them. After seeing a wryneck in India 2
years ago, mine is the white-tailed ptarmigan. I've hiked mile after mile
through alpine tundra in Colorado, Alaska, Canada, and Washington and never
seen one. Anyone else?

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Sundstrom [mailto:ixoreus at home.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 12:38 PM
To: tweeters
Subject: Jinx birds and Jynx birds


Tweeters and jinxed birders,

The concept of jinx derives from the use of Jynx torquilla or the Wryneck, a
unique woodpecker, in witchcraft, certainly an appropriately magical topic
for the Halloween period. This means it would be possible for Jynx to be
your jinx-bird too. Is this a fun hobby or what? Personally, I think the
obsession with jinx-birds takes some of the magic out of this pursuit.

Regards, Bob Sundstrom
ixoreus at home.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marv Breece" <mbreece at foxinternet.net>
To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 5:33 AM
Subject: Fw: Tropical Kingbird remains - jinx bird, not hardly!!


>
>
> To each his own, Denny. But if you like, we'll all adopt you criteria for
a
> jinx bird. You can be a committee of 1 and decide yourself who qualifies.
> I suspect there are those who feel your search for the Spruce Grouse is to
> date a weeny attempt.
>
> I choose to believe you meant all of this in good humor. It may not sound
> that way to some. And what's wrong with NPR?
>
> Marv Breece
> Seattle,WA
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Denny Granstrand <osprey at nwinfo.net>
> To: <TWEETERS at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: October 30, 2001 9:08 PM
> Subject: Re: Tropical Kingbird remains - jinx bird, not hardly!!
>
>
> >
> > Hi Tweeters,
> > Scott Downes (see below) tells us he has gotten "this jinx bird off his
> > back" after his seventh chase for a Tropical Kingbird. I hardly think
> > driving around on paved roads searching for a bird qualifies for that
bird
> > to be a "jinx bird". Just consider my nine or ten (or perhaps even
> twelve)
> > serious struggles through extreme forests of thick lodgepole pine and
> > subalpine fir with innurmerable downfalls that gave me countless
scratches
> > and bruises in search of a Spruce Grouse. That constitutes a serious
> > attempt to find a bird. I have earned the right to call Spruce Grouse
my
> > jinx bird. Driving around drinking coffee or sodas (or perhaps hot
> > toddies), munching on doughnuts and listening to NPR doesn't even
compare.
> > We need to contact the ABA's (American Birding Association's) rules
> > committee for their specific defination on jinx birds. I am sure they
can
> > clarify this for us.
> >
> > This also brings to mind Charlie Wright's e-mail last year in which he
> said
> > he had gotten his jinx bird, Black Swift, off his back. Charlie isn't
> even
> > old enough to have a "jinx bird". To qualify as a jinx bird, a birder
has
> > to have been chasing a bird for at least ten years. For Charlie to have
a
> > jinx bird,he would have had to have started birding when he was two.
> > Really, now, can a two-year-old be a serious birder? Not by my
> defination.
> >
> > We are in a day-and-age when, in baseball games, a batter charges the
> > pitcher when he has been nicked by a pitch, basketball players throw
> > temper-tantrums for minor infractions and who wants to even bother to
> > account for the behavior of football players. Let us not allow birding
to
> > fall to those depths. We have standards to live up to. I challenge us
> all
> > to do it!
> >
> > Denny Granstrand
> > Yakima, WA
> >
> > Scott's e-mail:
> > >>Hi tweets,
> > >>Despite the weather being less than ideal the Tropical Kingbird was
> > located early in the afternoon, around 1pm or so I think along the
willows
> > of Lk. Minard near the Tonquin ave bridge on the Marine View Dr. side.
The
> > weather stopped raining briefly while I viewed it but the bird never
left
> > its perch during the 5 or so minutes I watched so, probably hunkered
down
> > for the weather.
> > >>Also of interest to watch was a group of 3 River Otters under this
> bridge
> > fishing and interacting with each other.
> > >>Glad to finally get this jinx bird off of my back! This was the
seventh
> > time for me trying in Washington, persistence pays off eventually...
> > >>
> > >>Scott Downes
> > >>downess at cwu.edu
> > >>Ellensburg WA
> > >>
> > >
> > * * * * * * * * * * *
> > * Denny Granstrand *
> > * Yakima, WA *
> > * osprey at nwinfo.net *
> > * * * * * * * * * * *
> >
> >
> >
>
>