Joe Meche said, "Per this thread, recommended reading: "The Verb 'To Bird', " by Peter Cashwell." Add to that Simon Barnes's How to Be a (BAD) Birdwatcher. I just read it a few days ago, and it reminded me how easy it is to get caught up in the "serious" aspects of birding, or bird-watching--twitching rarities, trying to build the longest possible life-list, worrying about difficult identifications--while forgetting the simple pleasures of seeing birds and enjoying them for their beauty, their grace, their amazing aerial acrobatics, and so on. Read it! It will help put your birding life in better perspective.

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