That's a well articulated perspective Tim.
As I see it, the key factor is the thing that motivates a twitcher out
of the door ...
The drive to see as many possible species in a geographic area is
different to the drive to see all the species that could be expected
to be seen in a geographic area. The emphasis in the former case is
numerical - each species is a tick. The emphasis in the latter is
broader. For example, seeing the 10 species of grasswrens in
Australia would have greater meaning to me than seeing an equal number
of vagrants. Similarly, the psychology of a planned holiday is
different to that of the hasty dash.
If you are just increasing the number of ticks you have, the novelty
is likely to wear off. If you want to spread your wings and make the
world your oyster or you want more than simple identification, the
enjoyment is less likely to wear off.
Perhaps the greatest value of chasing vagrant birds is in the social
interaction it engenders in the birding population ... perhaps they
are the birding equivalent of leks - otherwise solitary individuals
come together for a shared purpose ...
Regards, Laurie
On 09/05/2013, at 2:05 PM, Tim Jones wrote:
Tony,
I went through almost exactly the same thing over 10 years ago, in a
different situation and I think I know how you feel. I was a
hardened twitcher in the UK and hated missing vagrants. I would take
off from work at the earliest opportunity, hopefully combining with
mates, but often going on my own anywhere in the country (except
perhaps the most remote Scottish islands).
After a while I started having the occasional holiday abroad, and my
job started to take me to interesting locations (like South Africa
at least 3 times). I found it harder and harder to rouse myself for
twitches and I was too far behind the top blokes to ever be in the
top 10 or so listers. I missed a couple of birds that way, either
going too late or not at all, but it all came to a head when a
Little Swift was in the country - about a 3 hour drive from where I
lived. I prevaricated for 2 weeks and then had to go on my own. I
turned up 15 minutes after the bird was last seen (it had roosted in
the same place for 2 weeks and frequented nearby fields and its
disappearance coincided with the farmer starting to plough up the
stubble).
As I drove home, I just wondered what the hell I was doing. Petrol
is expensive in the UK. I had recently seen millions of the things
in South Africa. Years before I remember coming back from a holiday
in Canada once and dumping wife and baby straight after landing and
screeching off after an American sparrow of some sort - again I had
seen loads in the preceding couple of weeks! I enjoyed the fact that
I had been everywhere (man) in the UK, but it was getting
repetitious. Twitching just lost its sheen. Why spend all that money
and effort for a number on a list, when you can delight in the same
species and hundreds more on a proper holiday, with a relaxed
instead of pressured situation, seeing them in their correct
habitat, breeding plumages and experiencing a new country? It was
weird letting go, but whilst I wondered why I had bothered in the
past, I put it down to having a great crack at the time, which I
really did for most of the ten or eleven years I did it.
In the end I found I gained more than I gave up. When I came to Aus
10 years ago, I decided I would NOT go on twitches. I've seen all
the birds that have turned up here as vagrants. I just want to see
all the regular species and have 20 or 30 to go. That's enough for
me in Australia (and you can add NZ I suppose). Twitching is
enormously expensive here due to the distances involved - you might
as well go to New Caledonia and see a Kagu (that's an ambition for
me - it would be nice to see at least one bird from every bird
family in the world - which should keep me going a while!). I still
see my twitching mates on a birding holiday once every year or two.
Twitching (and I suppose any casual birding really) has no intrinsic
value at all and in fact might be a realtively minor contributor to
pollution etc.. The best one can say is that hopefully most
proponents of it also have an interest in the environments they
visit and to some extent might contribute to awareness of
conservation and/or eco tourism, and usually have some sort of
parallel conservation involvement.
I just think "each to his own", and have a great time out birding,
wherever you go. Let anyone who'll listen know how great it is. And
try and put a little back into conservation (I know we're pushing
water up hill, but we can't just despair).
All the best and see you around somewhere, I hope.
Tim
From:
To:
Date: Thu, 9 May 2013 10:25:19 +0930
Subject: [Birding-Aus] A twitcher falls off the perch
Hi All, I've been twitching since the early nineties, feverishly
chasing
after vagrants new and rare to Australia. My Oz total now stands at
753
given my last twitch for the Eyebrowed Thrush near Atherton. I have
in the
past spent what must be thousands of dollars on fuel, airfares,
accommodation, site fees, food, etc., and many hundreds of hours
going for
the latest vagrant arrivals before they disappear or die or get
predated.
Great fun.
However, things seem to be changing. In recent years I've thought
about
going for the latest vagrants in Broome and Perth, like the Semi-
palmated
Plover in Broome and the Northern Pintail in Perth,, and even the
Princess
Parrot in the Centre, but somehow have lost the compulsion to go for
them.
Money and time are not the determining factors. I just seem to have
lost
steam.
The recent Widgeon in WA and the current Wagtail in Alice have of
course
caught my attention, but I find I just can't be bothered going for
them.
What for? Just another tick in my list? I was hoping to catch up
with a
Black-headed Gull in Darwin sometime, but having just been to the UK
(without my bins) I saw hundreds of them. And widgeons. So what?
Surely this sort of thinking is sacrilege to the true twitcher I
thought I
was. Now the thinking is "so what if I don't see them?"
I used to think that lifting my total towards 800 was important to
me, now
it seems entirely immaterial. So what if other people get a bigger
list than
me? It doesn't affect anything does it . I collect beautiful
pictures of
rare birds on the internet. Not the same as seeing them in the
flesh ? Of
course not. So?
In the past I've had many a heated discussion with some of our more
academic
birdos over the value of twitching, which they of course consider
contributes very little to the important issues of habitat and species
conservation. I have to agree with them. What possible useful
impact can a
single vagrant achieve before it dies or gets eaten?
Of course a group of vagrants, like the Canada Geese of a few years
ago, if
left to establish and form ever growing numbers, can have effects on
habitat
usage, nest sites, food supplies etc, which upsets the natural
ecological
balance and often affect indigenous species adversely. Moreover,
many of
these feral groups are now too well established over time to be
eradicated,
and isn't it better to learn to live with them than get all upset
about
them. Feral colonies are only good for twitchers but only of
nuisance value
for conservationists.
I don't understand how my drop off in zeal has come about. Those
disdainful
of twitching might suggest that "Aha, at last he's come to his
senses", but
I don't accept that. The thought of seeing a new bird is still
interesting
, even exciting, but I just can't be bothered going after them
anymore. I
Googled the creek where the Widgeon was seen in WA, and I thought
about
asking Chris Watson precisely which garden in Alice has the
Wagtail. But to
what avail? I know I'm not going.
Is there anybody out there suffering from a similar malaise ?
Tony
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