At the risk of being accused of picking nits, people who studied
birds before the mid-60's would not have called what they did
birding. They would have been as repulsed by the term birding
and reacted in the same way many did a few months ago to "googling".
They would probably have cringed the way I cringe when I hear
"journaling" or "scrap-booking".

Back in the day, people referred to themselves as bird-watchers,
ornithologist, naturalists, but not birders. The term came into
common usage in the late-60's and early-70's as a mechanism to
distinguish a class of "extreme" birdwatchers focused on bird study
as a sport. It was an unabashedly elitist way to separate the list
building, ID focused bird chasers from the little old ladies, eccentric
gentlemen and shotgun ornithologists most people thought of when
characterizing bird-watchers. Since that time it has come, more less,
to identify all classes of bird students, much to the annoyance of some
old school birders.

It is this difference in the definition of what a birder is that
often leads to hurt feelings and impugned characters. This is the
a big chunk of the reason why some folks were so grumpy about the study
done by the USFWS claiming 46 million birders.

Me? Even though I came of age in the age of the "true birders" and
have an elitist streak in me, I still call myself a bird-watcher and
celebrate my eccentric gentlemanliness... or a naturalist... or an
ecologist. I only use birder when talking with the press, for
efficiency sake...

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

SNOWY OWLS on the Lower Columbia - links to current information
on the 2005 irruption event:
http://home.pacifier.com/~neawanna/SNOW/SNOW20051120.html