Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 20:07:51 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Geoff Graff Subject: Re: You are a birder if... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I thought you might want to check this out. Kevin Graff Baltimore, MD ggraff@erols.com Bart Frazier wrote: Hey Birders, I found this on the Greater Wyoming Valley Audubon Society (PA) page and couldn't stop laughing. Thought you guys would enjoy it. You are a birder if: * Someone yells "Duck!", and you look up and shout "Where?" * Vacations are planned to maximize the number of life birds * You criticize television programs and commercials that depict a bald eagle but play a red-tailed hawk call * Your kids are named Buteo and Accipiter * People stop and stare when you pish at the shrubbery at the local mall * Lunch breaks find you driving to check out your favorite hot spot * Your spouse says, "Its either me or the birds", and you have to think about it * On sunny days you hop in the car, crank up your tape of bird calls, and drive like crazy to the nearest mountain where the thermals are great for soaring hawks * You pay a neighbor kid $20 to roll on a carcass and lay still while you search the sky for vultures * You try to talk your kid into going to college in Belize so that you can have an excuse to go and bird there * Its a northeaster, the rain is horizontal, a small craft advisory has been issued, but it's birdathon and you need to up the day's list * Clouds take the shape of birds, and you can distinguish male from female, and adult from immature plumage * A machine squeaks at work and you describe it to maintenance as sounding like a black-and-white warbler * The first time you meet your future in-laws, you demonstrate the courtship dance of the woodcock, replete with sound effects * You spend fifteen minutes preparing dinner for your family and thirty minutes mixing and placing the seed for your birds * Preparing for trips to visit out-of-state relatives involves contacting local birders, securing local bird lists, and buying the appropriate Lane's Guide * You identify call of birds in the soundtracks of television shows and movies * You're willing to fight anyone who criticizes your optics * You participate in hours-long discussions about the pros and cons of using a certain field guide * You lose friends, and perhaps even your spouse, from fighting over the pronunciation of "pileated" Answering "yes" to any of these questions qualifies you as a birder Bart Frazier Centreville, Fairfax Co. ================================================================= To unsubscribe send a message to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ==========================================================================================================================================