For those of you unable to get on the web, I have appended the "rules"
from the US website that would appear to fit the Antipodean context.
I'm sure Terry Pacey would endorse the last one.
http://www.speakingofbirds.com/resources/universal_laws_of_birding.htm
The Universal Laws of Birding
Sacrificial Lamb Law - The bird will be seen by others only after you,
as the sacrificial lamb, leave.
Theorem of Diminishing Returns - The longer you look for a bird, the
less likely you will find it.
Hoffman's Corollary - The further you travel to see a particular bird,
the less likely you are to find it. (Carolyn Hoffman)
Arie's Nemesis Theory - If you don't see the bird within a certain
amount of tries, it becomes insulted and deliberately avoids you from
then on. (Arie Gilbert)
Gilbert's Wishful Thinking Hypothesis - This takes place by casually
mentioning a bird and then the bird shows up. (Arie Gilbert)
Hoffman's Law - You may look for a particular bird for 20 years without
finding it, but once you DO find it you find them everywhere. They turn
up in your driveway, on your porch, EVERYwhere. They suddenly become
robin-like in their numbers. (Carolyn Hoffman)
Field Mark Tendencies Scenario - Whenever you are out birding without a
fieldguide and see a new bird, the fieldmark you think is the important
one is never the important one. The bird always flies before you can
look at the important one. If there is an important field mark, the
bird never lets you see it. If the bird sits there all day and lets you
look at all its field marks, it is not a rare bird. (Carolyn Hoffman)
Arie's Photographic Anomaly - Your best photographic opportunities will
occur when you leave the camera behind. (Arie Gilbert)
Bangma's Photographic Absolute - The lens you have with you is never
long enough. (Jim Bangma)
Sosensky's Exception - If the lens is long enough, the bird will be too
close to focus on. (Steve Sosensky)
Norm's Photographic Observations
If you see a bird you don't recognize and photograph it for later
identification, all the key characteristics will be obscure.
All small, nervous, flighty birds have an innate ability to feel
photons reflected from their body being focused on a viewing screen and
move instantly.
Otherwise outstanding portraits of birds will show the nictitating
membrane in use. (Norm Smith)
Sosenky's Theory of Optical Availability - Birds are most visible when
your binoculars are down.
Field Guide Corollary - The bird is most visible when you look in your
field guide and least visible when you go back to look for the next
field mark.
(Steve Sosensky)
The Transubstantiation Phenomenon -- The ability of many rare birds to
change their appearance into that of a common bird in the amount of
time between your spotting them in a tree with your naked eye and
raising your binoculars to look at them. An evolutionary holdover from
the days of collecting. (Joe DiCostanzo)
The Inverse Distance Waterfowl Law -- The rarer the duck or goose, the
further from shore it will be. On an enclosed body of water, it will
always be on the diametrically opposite shore from you and this shore
will always be private land or otherwise inaccessible. (Joe DiCostanzo)
The Weekend Migration Rule -- In published analyses of arrival and
departure dates for any given migration in bird journals it will be
found that nearly all birds arrive in the spring on a weekend and
depart in the fall on a weekend. (Joe DiCostanzo)
The Luck of the Uninterested Rule -- At any stakeout for a rare bird at
which a large number of birders have assembled, one birder will usually
have dragged along an uninterested, nonbirding friend or relative. The
nonbirder almost inevitably will be the one who looks the other way or
wanders off and finds the sought after bird. (Joe DiCostanzo)
Field Guide Inaccuracy Absolute - There is always an expert in the
group who knows more than the field guide about the finer
identification points of a given bird. This applies to every field
guide or book ever written and is particularly relevant when the bird
is rare. Frequently, the matter involves "gizz", a meaningless method
for someone attempting to get a lifer look. It should also be
mentioned that the aforementioned expert will have NEVER written a
field guide. (Frazier)
Shorebird Viewing Problem - Away from actual seashores, some of the
best shorebird locations are also the least scenic or the
smelliest. (Frazier)
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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