Andrew argues some very good points, and I certainly agree that most
"twitchers" also enjoy watching the commoner species. We are all twitchers
to varying degrees. However, the following example defines for me the
birder at the extreme end of the twitcher continuum.
I am taking a visitor on a walk through beautiful and unique bushland. We
see a good number of birds, including great views of pardalotes, whistlers,
treecreepers and kingfishers, we are able to watch their behaviour and
admire the details of their plumage. We also see a Yellow-footed
Antechinus, Red-necked Wallabies and a Bearded Dragon. We see tiny flowers
which are unique to the area. About the only thing we don't see is the
particular species my guest is looking for, which was only ever an outside
chance, being a very difficult species. We return to camp and my guest's
wife asks "What did you see?"..... and he answers: "Nothing"!
This attitude is rare but I do come across it occasionally.
Actually I don't think David said anything in his original message which
was critical of twitchers. All he did was make the observation that a good
number of species were seen despite the group not being particularly
focussed on finding as many species as possible. And it's true that some
groups are more twitching-oriented than others. Both types of group are
usually fun to lead (with the exception of the extreme example I described
above).
And I certainly agree with Jill and Margaret's comments that there is
enormous pleasure in introducing new birders to birds they haven't seen
before. You can literally relive the initial excitement each time.
Cheers
Carol
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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