Carol, David et al,
To a large extent, of course I agree: it's always more satisfying to find
birds for yourself, especially when our observations add to the
knowledge/literature.
But it's too easy to put down other birders for wanting to draw on previous
observations. No form of birdwatching is necessarily more "pure" than
another.
There are other factors to remember here. Most of us are not professional
ornithologists, paid to spend our time looking where others don't for rare
birds. Many others on this list are enjoying their retirements, with the
luxury of time (and in some cases, a life's savings) to spend on stopping
wherever they fancy to smell the roses.
It's hard to blame others (who might only get a few spare weeks in a year to
indulge themselves) who are probably only trying to get the most out of
their holidays.
By the way, I would love to spend my life working in the field - all I
wanted to do when I was at school was study zoology. But it soon became
apparent that I was more adept at the humanities than the sciences, and so
here I am, "reduced" to writing columns like Twitchers' Corner! Which I
guess leaves me wide open to these kind of critiques.
Cheers, AS
> >It seems that bird watchers have become increasingly hung up on chasing
> >that rare bird and more reliant on others to find their birds for them.
>
> Yes, and surely it is infinitely more rewarding to find a bird for
yourself
> after seeking out likely habitat, than to be told exactly where to look, x
> metres along the track, in a particular branch of a certain tree, etc.
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