Ah - someone else with a similar murky past to me!
The real difference with bus and train spotters is that it is VERY hard to
call a train out of hiding by playing a call to it.....
On 01/03/07, Tony Russell <> wrote:
Sounds very similar to collecting bus numbers in London when I was a kid
- many moons ago when most of you were still only twinkles.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Paul Jacobson
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 9:59 PM
To: michael norris
Cc:
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Number of birdwatchers in Australia
I suspect we are observing Pom's displaying their characteristic
'trainspotter' behaviour.
I couldn't resist appending a bite from wikipedia; exchange railway
references for birding references and the description is quite uncanny.
cheers
Paul
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railfan
Trainspotting
Railfans who are "trainspotters" make an effort to spot every piece
of rolling stock known to exist for a particular railroad company. To
this end, they collect and exchange detailed information about the
movements of locomotives and other equipment on the railway network,
and become very knowledgeable about its operations.
The equipment of a trainspotter consists, generally, of a data book
listing all the locomotives or other equipment in question, in which
locomotives seen are ticked off; a notebook and pens, to note down
sightings to transfer into the book at leisure; and an infinite
supply of patience. In the UK, this aspect of the hobby was given a
large boost by the publication of the Ian Allan "ABC" series of
booklets from the 1940s onwards. Today, some trainspotters will use a
tape recorder instead of the notebook. Modern times have seen the
addition of the cellphone and/or pager as an aid to communication
with others in the hobby, while various internet mailing lists and
web sites allow for exchange of information. There are also websites
which allow spotters to record and cross reference their sightings
with other spotters. Railfans can maintain private computerized
databases of spotting records as well.
On 01/03/2007, at 9:00 PM, michael norris wrote:
> Hi all
>
> Does anyone know a good mailing list or site to discuss this issue
> and learn about remedies ?
>
> Being a Pom in Melbourne I think Andrew Hobbs and Michael Hunter
> are right about the effects of our urban structure and English bird
> behaviour being more obvious. But here we also have a pioneer
> mentality of conquering the bush.... As a local pollie I face
> demand for "pristine beaches" which, to me means seaweed, shells...
> and to them means cleansed sand and footprints all over.
>
> How to get people's interest, get them to be informed, and then be
> involved is a long road. I recently gave some talks on local
> biodiversity to Year 9s and what grabbed their attention was when I
> asked them if they had seen those large blue wasps....
>
> Michael Norris
>
> PS a Rufous Whistler in a mixed insectivorous flock the other day
> was the first for 4 years: the longest gap between records since
> I've lived in Bayside. ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe
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> to: ===============================
---------------------------------------
Paul Jacobson
mob: 0434 534 161
email:
Mactrix
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