I've often thought that "ticking" was a form of collecting - one is presumably
trying to tick as many as possible or, preferably, all of them. I wonder if
it's the drive to complete the task that drives collectors, rather than just
the accumulation of whatever one is collecting. Being able to complete a task
would be an evolutionary advantage, I assume.
But I'm guessing that there are many more motivations than simply collecting
ticks that drive birdwatchers. The desire to be able to identify them all is
one. You could argue that being able to identify something gives you a degree
of power and control over your environment, and there's no doubt that humans
tend to like a bit of power, preferably more than anyone else.
While my observations aren't likely to be as useful as Darwin's, it would be
nice to think that by altassing as well as ticking they're of at least some use
to someone.
As for Attenborough's regret that children are prevented from collecting
feathers, eggs, etc, by wildlife protection laws these days, you only have to
look at a modern child's action figure collection to see that collecting is
alive and well, albeit quite a bit more expensive.
Peter Shute
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of
> Richard Nowotny
> Sent: Tuesday, 31 August 2010 11:32 AM
> To: 'Birding Aus'
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] The Science Show, 28 August 2010
>
> On the ABC Radio Science Show on Saturday (repeated
> yesterday) Robin Williams included an interesting piece on
> "collecting" by David Attenborough, the transcript of which I
> have copied below. It makes some interesting observations of
> relevance to the pastime of birdwatching (which, although not
> any longer to do with collecting 'objects' [eggs, nests,
> feathers, specimens, etc*] is a form of collecting
> nonetheless - as a displacement activity for hunting (??),
> perhaps accounting in part for the preponderance of males in
> the ranks of hard-core listers and twitchers?) - and is
> interesting for other reasons as well. You might enjoy it.
>
> [* however, "ticks" in a field-guide, lists, and photos of
> birds might indeed be legitimately thought of as collectable
> 'objects'.]
>
>
>
> Richard NOWOTNY
>
> Port Melbourne, Victoria
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