Or worse still, you could corrupt them into being Twitchers! :)
It could be like introducing someone to gambling or hard drugs, once
the bug bites... Similar drain on financial resources from time to
time as well.
You should be grateful that at least your colleagues are showing SOME
interest - you may even (with time and patience) corrupt them into being
birders!
On 06/07/07, John Leonard <> wrote:
>
> I have just been thinking about some incidents recently where I have
> discussed bird-related topics with non bird-watchers. The background
> to this is that I have decorated my work-space with some of my
> bird-photographs and so people often come up to me with their bird
> questions.
> The observation I have made is how non-bird-watchers don't seem to
> have any idea of a bird as a dynamic, living thing. For example, a
> colleague asked me about a group of 'funny-looking' birds he had seen
> when he stopped his car on a trip out to Broken Hill. I guessed they
> were Apostlebirds, and pointed to an Apostlebird photo I had. He
> replied: 'Yes, they looked a bit like that, but they were puffier.' To
> me as a bird watcher this is absurd: obviously if you have two
> individuals of the same size, shape, colour and habits, with the only
> difference being 'puffiness', then they are the same species. I
> suppose people generally don't realise how most birds have
> comparatively tiny bodies, surrounded by a shell of feathers that can
> be puffed out or sleeked down depending on the bird's temperature,
> mood, movements &c
> Another interesting habit people have is to look at a picture of bird
> in a field guide (I sometimes have a field guide with me at work and
> use it to answer birding questions) and say: 'Oh yes, that looks like
> it, but I don't remember it as quite that colour'. Again, the
> knowledge lacking is that the colours in field guides are products of
> the printing process subsequent to the artist's labours, and can vary
> considerably between print runs even of the same edition, and that the
> colours that birds have in the field are strongly influenced by the
> lighting and background (after dark, for example, most birds are
> entirely black :-) ).
> What can we do about these common habits of thought? I suppose it's
> too much to ask that bird-watching be a compulsory subject at school.
> Which brings me on to another topic… most people seem to have no sort
> of species concept…
>
>
> --
> John Leonard
> Canberra
> Australia
> www.jleonard.net
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
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--
Evan Beaver
Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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