I have just picked up this thread andd, yes I am
another one of those POMS!
I started at school where we had a bird club, albeit
made up of young male nerds, which I joined as
honourary nerd and my birding went from there, over 30
years ago.
I no longer belong to bird clubs, and as a result of
moving here Ju and I have cast our nets more widely
and are far more interested in practical conservation,
particularly on our own property. This initial
interest in bird watching has grown into something far
more practical than just twitching for us, as it is
for many birders in Australia compared to my
experience in England where the bird for many was the
be all and end all. I hope that that has changed as
the threats to habitat have only increased.
In fact my bird watching interest lead me to a change
in career into biodiversity in NE Vic and I would
agree with comments about the need to tame the
environment. Part of my job is assessing vegetation
removal and I am constantly depressed by requests to
remove trees in case they fall and hurt someone.
Someone wanted a huge, healthy Grey Box remove as
their grandchildren might play under it and get hurt.
Poor kids. My early stages were spent climbing trees,
playing in moats and generally getting very dirty and
lost on the South Downs.
How do you get people involved? In my experience in my
work, spread your enthusiasm. We have farming
neighbours/friends who have now bought bins (or
binos!) to look at birds they would never have
bothered with before, they have curlews on their
property that they are proud of having. They tell
their neighbours etc etc.
By the way, had a great two weeks in FNQ, finally
caught up with Masked owl and Buff-breasted
Button-quail. Old habits die hard!
Deb
--- 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
> > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> > to:
> ===============================
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Paul Jacobson
>
> mob: 0434 534 161
> email:
>
> Mactrix
> - mac-centric support services -
>
>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===============================
>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===============================
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate
in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
