birding-aus

Why do birders create State lists?

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Why do birders create State lists?
From: L&L Knight <>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 22:05:43 +1000
Being a geographer, I have an interest in regionalisations. As a birdwatcher, I also have an interest in bird observations and records.

The question I have is why do birders bother creating State lists? States are colonial anachronisms. Very few of their boundaries have any connection to the affairs of birds.

Do birders create State lists because they are brought up in cultural straight-jackets or because the boundaries are clearly marked? One of the key problem for list aficionados is that there are only 8 States and Territories to create lists for ...

Why don't birders create Bioregion lists? There are 85 recognised bioregions in Australia, so there are potentially 10 times as many lists to create. What is more, bioregionalisation has far more relevance for birding observations than State boundaries. It doesn't matter much whether a species breeds on one side of a border fence or the other. It does matter, however, if that species ceases to breed in a particular bioregion.

It seems logical to me that we should connect our bird observations to the environment in which we see them. I would be interested to hear from birders who have created bioregional lists ...

Regards, Laurie.
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