Now, Rob, did you think I'd pass up the chance to set someone straight about
crows? I already sent Geoff the information, and he's put "NW Crow" at the
bottom of his priorities.

And since you've exposed our little Bowerman conversation to all of
Tweeterdom, I have to say that that was an "I shoulda said" moment for me.
If I hadn't responded to your comment about crows so quickly, I could have
turned it into a Sherlock-Holmes "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive"
moment, realizing that only a Tweet would be tweaking me about NW Crows in
that way.

BTW, I'm afraid the ten-second experience is common to frantic tourists and
twitchers of all nationalities. The listing madness infects birders, and if
you've ever been pushed through a tourist trap (as we were at the Palace of
Versailles last summer, for instance), you know that the people running the
operation too often push people through like sheep, and the sheep don't care
much, as long as they've "had the experience." Been there, done that,
what's next?

Burt Guttman guttmanb at evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 360-456-8447
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S.E., Olympia 98503


-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Saecker [mailto:rsaecker at thurston.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 10:51 AM
To: GeoffDobbs at aol.com; tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Visiting UK birder


At 4:18 AM -0400 5/28/03, GeoffDobbs at aol.com wrote:
>Having read previous postings about UK "twitchers" watching birds for
>seconds, it is with some trepidation that I put this request out.

Well, the "watching for seconds" attitude is hardly confined to UK
twitchers. Years ago I visited the Alhambra in Spain. While enjoying
the view of Grenada from one overlook, I was amused to watch another
tourist walk to the parapet, snap half-a-dozen photos in a roughly
panoramic manner, and then walk away. Total time of experience: less
than 15 seconds.

Besides, you should have more trepidation about asking after
northwestern crows here. Go get 'im, Burt! :-)

(BTW, I had a nice little exchange with Burt at Bowerman during the
Shorebird festival. I was out on the boardwalk when a group arrived,
and I noticed their leader was wearing a name tag that said Burt
Guttman. So I said, "Hey, I just saw a northwestern crow out here."

Burt replies, emphatically, "I don't believe you."

pause

"Are you a tweeter?")

Enjoy your visit, Geoff.
--
Rob Saecker
Olympia
rsaecker at thurston.com