Hi birders, twitchers and sundry ornithologists
There are some birders who find philosophical debates such as this one
tedious or silly. They make the very valid point that what people choose to
count on their list is of no consequence when we have bigger issues to
attend to, ie saving the avian world.
Good for them.
The avalanche of justifiable praise for Sean Dooley's wonderfully
self-deprecating account of his joining the 600 club (and yes, it does
include House Crow - he twitched it while I was on the other side of Philip
Island) suggests that there are many others who disagree, and who probably
found Sean's story a refreshing change from some of the deadly serious stuff
we have to wade through.
Birdwatching and birdwatchers certainly provide valuable data for
conservation, and that's great, but I doubt we were all originally motivated
by such high-minded goals. Because birdwatching also happens to be fun.
Seeing new birds and keeping lists thereof is, for many, an inextricable
part of that enjoyment. And there should be no need to justify that
enjoyment to anyone.
As one correspondent has asked, do some of us take ourselves too seriously?
;-)
Cheers
AS
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
