This was written by Sally Adams to sabirdnet in South Africa. She's a keen
subscriber and I always enjoy her letters. She granted me permission to
forward this on to birding-aus.
Cheers.
Lorna Bloom
Subject: Observing the observers (with tongue firmly in cheek)
The Four Levels of Competence
I read recently, in one of my dog training books, about the four recognised
levels of competence. The author supplied examples from a particular
competitive dog sport to illustrate the four levels. I amused myself
recently on a club outing by looking for examples among my fellow birders.
Perhaps you might recognise some of these?
1. The first level is when birders are *subconsciously incompetent*. Birders
at this level are unaware of their incompetence, can be heard making wildly
inaccurate identifications and often hold forth loudly on subjects of which
they have but a superficial understanding. They also tend to get the birds’
names wrong, and will talk about “pea-eaters” and “secret ibises”, for
example.
2. Birders who attain the second level are *consciously incompetent*. This
means they are now aware of how limited their knowledge is and that their
identification skills need much improvement. Second Level birders are
characterised by their reluctance to offer information during club outings.
They shy away from any discussion of a bird’s species, and will generally
volunteer to scribe at CWAC outings so as to avoid having to identify
anything.
3. The third level of competence is when a birder is *consciously
competent*. These birders have good identification skills, and are the most
likely to want to help Level One birders. Having attained this stage, the
Third Level birders are able to pass on useful formulae for the
identification of similar species, or for separating the boys from the
girls. For example: “The male giant kingfisher wears the waistcoat, while
the female has an apron”. With a lot more practice, these birders can
become:
4. *Subconsciously competent*. At this level, the learning process has
reached its peak. Now a birder is identifying birds effortlessly. Only the
briefest glimpse or teeniest squawk is sufficient to accurately name any
species in any location. The subconsciously competent birder has no need of
formulae or manuals, but can ID birds without conscious thought. Level Four
birders are regarded with awe by all other levels. This can sometimes result
in these birders adopting a rather stuck-up approach, and they will usually
try to avoid First Level birders at all costs.
Afterthought: As with most things, these levels are relative. I was asked
today where I would position *myself* in this hierarchy. The ensuing
discussion lead to a disturbing discovery - those of us lurking in Level 2
occasionally masquerade as Level 4's in the right company!
Sally Adam, The Consciously Incompetent
Cape Town
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