birding-aus

Reluctant lister reports in

To: Philip Veerman <>, 'Gary Davidson' <>, 'birding-aus' <>
Subject: Reluctant lister reports in
From: Kev Lobotomi <>
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 10:24:18 +1000
Hi All
I keep year lists. The main reason I do it is to keep track on what I see from 
year to year & sometimes it's a good way of seeing how long it is since I've 
seen a species. It's gotten to the stage where I've seen most Aussie birds 
(although my list wouldn't compare to some of the hardcore twitchers out 
there), so I like to revisit species I haven't seen for a long time. It's 
almost like ticking something new again if you haven't seen a bird in 20 years! 
Birds are always worthwhile looking at, if for nothing else other than to 
admire them for what they are (although there are heaps of other good reasons 
to watch birds).-Kevin Bartram
 
> From: 
> To: ; 
> Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 09:57:57 +1000
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Reluctant lister reports in
> 
> Hello Gary,
> 
> I suggest that the range of ways that people do or don't keep bird lists is
> as varied as the people and places involved and probably largely reflect
> their finances and ability to travel far. Because people vary in this latter
> aspect it does not matter to me what the comparisons are. Knowing something
> useful about the local birds and hopefully contributing that and being able
> to inspire interest in others is also of value. Of course these things go
> together. 
> 
> For years I kept and analysed and eventually wrote and published books about
> the Garden Bird Survey done in Canberra. That sure was a big task of many
> lists and detailed statistical analysis by sites, years, species, recording
> rates, trends in abundance of species, etc. So every outcome has numbers.
> That suggests something about me. Ask me what species I have seen in
> Australia and I would know yes or no. But ask me what is the number of
> species I have seen in Australia or this year and I have no idea and it does
> not concern me much. It must be 30 years or more since I did that tally. One
> day I will again. Maybe because some people see that as important and that
> is fine for them.  
> 
> Philip 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus  On Behalf Of
> Gary Davidson
> Sent: Tuesday, 12 August 2014 3:40 AM
> To: birding-aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Reluctant lister reports in
> 
> 
> Hi Alan,
> So you have passed 700, congrats! I recall a conversation we had last year
> during my most recent visit to Australia, when you said you don't keep
> lists. But clearly you have the records to produce one. So I got to
> wondering what is a "lister"? The image that immediately springs to mind is
> the birder who is constantly twitching rare birds and devoting his life to
> "expanding the list". If that is the case, then neither you nor I are
> listers. But I do keep lists. I think it might be my methodical,
> mathematical background that drives me to creating spreadsheets for
> everything imagineable. So I have several spreadsheet devoted to my bird
> sightings in various geographical locations. I can find out almost instantly
> that my Australian list stands at 571, (probably a pretty good total for a
> non-resident), my Africa list at 508, my UK list at 149 and my ABA list at
> 651, etc. But I don't very often go chasing rare species; my lists are what
> they are because I  keep track of what I see whereever I am. So, does that
> make me a lister? I don't know! But I'm keeping my spreadsheets, and as I
> travel around those numbers will grow, and I'll always know where I stand.
> Perhaps I'll just call myself a "spreadsheet birder". Gary Davidson, Nakusp,
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