birding-aus

Twitching Rationalisations

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Twitching Rationalisations
From: L&L Knight <>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:27:06 +1000
I was mulling over the rationalisations that twitchers offer for their long distance travel to see new birds while listening to a rainforest water feature on Friday night. As it has been pointed out in this forum, the pleasure of seeing a new species can be compared to sex - fleeting and leaving the viewer hungry for more. Using that analogy, how could one characterise twitching?

1. Travelling to see an Australian regular is like coupling with your spouse in exotic Australian locations - "We conceived Eryean on Big Red. A magical experience." 2. Swanning off to see a beautiful vagrant [eg Fairy Pitta, Lesser Yellowlegs] is like an encounter with one of the 'beautiful people' - "You wouldn't say no to XYZ, now would you?" 3. Tracking down an ugly vagrant that nevertheless managed to get here under its own steam [eg Slaty-backed Gull] is like a tumble with a good-hearted backpacker - "We were ships passing in the night." 4. Dashing off to see an invasive ship-assisted vagrant is like the aftermath of a 10 pot pair of beer goggles - "I did not have sexual relations with that trashbird, Corvus splendens."

Laurie.

[Exits left, ducking for cover.]
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