This is almost exactly my case - except I'm not quite 30. I only really
got back into birding in the last 2-3 years as a "serious" birder - ie:
birding at any and every available opportunity, but I would always keep
a semi-secret list when on holidays with friends/girlfriend. They would
ask what I was doing, I'd tell them, and they'd just think I was being a
bit odd.
I still get the occasional disparaging guffaw when I tell people at the
pub what I'm up to on the weekend, but you get used to it after a while.
And it's helped me to see more of this country than most of them ever
will. I know that I've definitely visited more sewage treatment works
than any of them will ;)
Cheers
Troy
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:00:00 +1100
From: "Carl Corden" <>
Subject: Number of birdwatchers in Australia
To: <>
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Being roughly the same age as Sean Dooley I can relate to the comments
about having birding mentors etc during your teen years. I started
birding at around 10 years old, and continued into my high school years.
I even shared my interest with one or two mates at school.
Unfortunately I didn't meet any other birders during this time and, sure
enough, birding was all but forgotten from my late teens through to my
early 30's. It wasn't that I lost interest in birds, it was just the
combination of the stigma of being a birdwatcher combined with
developing interest in other non-bird related pass-times that led me in
other directions. Obviously though the birding-bug was always present,
albeit dormant, until my 30's.
I suppose one advantage of this now is that my life list is somewhat
smaller than most "serious" birders, leaving me with plenty of
opportunities to see new birds!
Carl Corden
Sydney
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End of birding-aus Digest, Vol 12, Issue 10
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