Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 09:07:43 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Wilkerson, Jordan T." Subject: Re: Birder or Birdwatcher? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" (totally in jest...) Laura, I do agree with your distinctions between birders/watchers as well as to cavers (I am also both); however, I think that it would be prudent to not alienate those of us who were also not born in the 80's and yet have free-climbed El-Capitan (Yosemite Valley, CA) I totally appreciate your Birding comparison, but it has made me an anomaly: I am a Birder, yet I have recently sold my skydiving/BASE jumping rig, just returned from a high-altitude mountaineering trip in Ecuador, and still rock climb regularly. I think the distinction should be extended to ANYONE that explores beyond their backyard or beyond where their 6-pack runs out. For those of us who enjoy high-risk activities, just being a Birder may seem somewhat of an anomaly in itself. Just try explaining to new acquaintances at a dinner party that you "enjoy various levels of high-risk activities like rock climbing, skydiving, SCUBA diving and Birding". However, my experience indicates that birding can be high risk too: have you ever taken a pelagic trip near a hurricane? or hauled your seemingly-2-ton binoculars up to 16,000 feet just to get a look at a sierra finch? or tried to ID a hawk while driving on the beltway? How many of you thought you were suffering from frost bite or heat exhaustion while Birding? On a serious note, this obsessive "Birding" behavior is the subconscious driving force that exposed its ugly self during recent community embarrassments like the Sandhill Crane debacle last year and the more recent Snowy Owl incident on New Design Road. A member of MDOsprey recently stated in private that some "list keepers" collected beer cans and baseball cards in previous lives (my turn to alienate others). I think it is wise to be aware of the obsessive behavior in all of us so we can keep it in check when necessary. "nothing in excess, including moderation" (unknown) Thanks for the smile this morning. Jordan Cloverly, Montgomery County, MD -----Original Message----- From: Laura M. Appelbaum [mailto:l-appelbaum@MINDSPRING.COM] Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 6:50 PM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Birder or Birdwatcher? I'm with Bob Moul (hi, nice to meet you, Bob! ) vis a vis "birder" versus "birdwatcher," tho' I don't think I'd go so far as to say that birdwatchers are Beverly Hillbillies ... Both terms are legitimate, I think, but have different connotations; "birdwatchers" are people who put up feeders in the backyard, maybe even a martin or bluebird house, and enjoy doing exactly what that terms suggests -- watching birds. They like to see birds eating, fighting over turf, building nests, bringing food home to the chicks. Their focus is on the life cycle of birds, any birds, as long as they're in the backyard. "Birders" on the other hand, are obsessive/compulsive list makers who get a charge out of seeing something "new" and preferrably difficult to locate. If they were born in the '80s instead of the '60s, '50s, '40s, '30s etc, birders would be into "extreme sports" like free climbing El Capitain and then jumping back down into the valley with a parachute. But we weren't, so instead of collecting first ascents and broken bones, we collect birds. Birders are often birdwatchers too, but birdwatchers are rarely birders. A very similar linguistic war also accompanies those of us who crawl around in the mud under the earth's surface. The media likes to call us "spelunkers." Cavers, however, know that we are "cavers" and that "spelunkers" are those people who enter the underground with a Coleman lantern, a length of clothesline, and a six-pack of beer. Cavers are the people who have to rescue spelunkers. ;D LMA Birder and Caver ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================