Re: Mistakes, flubs, and other stomach-turners

Dona Patrick (dona@gateway.net)
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 10:18:02 -0400


I was heartened to hear that a birder I respect and admire (you know an
awful lot more than I do, Ellen) has the same feelings as I do about birding
in a group.  I am such an amateur that I wouldn't vocally identify a bird in
a crowd of birders to save my life.  However, because of my fear I have lost
out on the opportunity of learning more about my chosen hobby.  My dream is
to go birding with someone, (or a group of someones) who guides me to a
correct identity.  I guess that would be a birding 101 class, wouldn't it?
Everything I know about identifying birds (and that is very little) I
learned through reading.

You are lucky, Ellen, that your husband likes to bird too.  My husband likes
to walk through the woods picking up sticks and banging them on trees,
throwing stones in quiet ponds and whistling to make me think an unusual
bird is around.  My children are the same, but lately they have begun to
point out birds to me (crows are their favorites to show me).

Back to lurking--and learning-

Dona Patrick
Bethesda, MD
dona@gateway.net



-----Original Message-----
From: Ellen Paul <epaul@dclink.com>
To: mdosprey@ARI.Net <mdosprey@ARI.Net>
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 1998 6:23 AM
Subject: Mistakes, flubs, and other stomach-turners


>I have found that I do much better on my own because, while I don't have
>the advantage of many pairs of eyes finding the birds, I am much more
>relaxed, find more birds myself, and have an easier time identifying
>them.  When I am around others, I freeze up.  On my first out-of-country
>trip, this was a real problem.  My husband (much better birder) was
>anxious that I see everything (not easy to do in the tropics to start
>out with) and the more energetically he tried to get me to see every
>bird, the more I missed.  Only after a blow-up did he finally leave me
>alone.  And from that point on, I didn't dip on a single bird.  Even
>found a few before him (want to know what they were?...I'll never let
>him forget them....!) and even saw one that he dipped on .  BOOTED
>RACKETTAIL!!!!!!
>
>For years, I have been meaning to really WORK on my id skills, rather
>than just "winging it."  Life has interfered with those plans.  Now,
>this winter looks very promising - with Thayer's, every field guide, and
>a library full of books, plus two sets of sound recordings.  But, with
>regard to gulls, I still say its spinach and I still won't eat it.
>
>I find that there are some extremely skilled birders who share their
>knowledge and for them I am grateful, but most are highly competitive
>and gloat when you make an error.  For them, I practice avoidance. I'm
>out there because I love seeing the birds and if I don't get an ID
>quickly, or don't nail it down until getting home and consulting the
>various authorities, well, so be it.  That's how I learn.
>
>I've also found that my first impression is right 95% of the time, and
>unless I get unusually good and/or long views (or hear the song), I
>probably won't ever be able to tease apart the empids, catch every fall
>warbler in bad light, and so on.
>
>Just my .02.
>
>Ellen Paul
>
>
>
>--
>Ellen Paul           Chevy Chase,MD           mailto:epaul@dclink.com
>