That's a "print and save" - as a birder who "lurks" on the site every 
day, you just confirm my own opinion that we're all the same species - 
just different plummage.......

Karen Caruso
Riva, MD

Bob Mumford wrote:

>The discussion about birding today brings up an issue that surfaces from  
>time to time, to wit, what is a birder?
> 
>I know people who can barely tell the difference between a blue jay and a  
>blue bird but really enjoy watching them.  Others can tell you the color of  
>terciaries on a second year Iceland gull in winter and can successfully identify  
>every bird in North America.
> 
>There are people who travel to the ends of the earth to see different birds  
>and others who would not drive to the other side of Washington.
> 
>I have known people who have never had a list, yet love birds, and others  
>who are obsessive-compulsive about every kind of list, from year to yard, from  
>county to country, and presumably whether they have seen males, females and  
>juveniles of every species.  For them, "closing out" a species in Maryland  is 
>a feeling of accomplishment.
> 
>There are highly educated people who make their living from birds  
>(ornithologists), studying some very, very narrow aspects of one species of  birds.  
>There are many others who never have, and never will, make a dime  off of birds.  
>And don't care.
> 
>There are those who love going birding in groups for the social aspects and  
>others who are loners.
> 
>Some people have virtually no other interests, go birding every day, read  
>practically nothing but birding literature.  And others who have far  broader 
>interests and bird when time becomes available.
> 
>There are some folks who want to take the best possible photograph of a  
>bird, others who are content to have a blurry image that can identify the bird,  
>and still others who would not carry a camera into the field under any  
>circumstances.
> 
>Some birders are into the organizational aspects of birding and aspire to  be 
>an officer in the ABA; others wouldn't join a birding organization on a  bet.
> 
>I ran into some top listers from California years ago chasing a Fieldfare  in 
>New Brunswick.  Once they had seen it, ticked it off, they were ready to  
>drive back to the airport.  I wanted to watch it, study it, photograph the  bird.
> 
>Some people become so interested in one family for birds - gulls, sparrows,  
>hummingbirds, for example - that they concentrate most of their time on these  
>birds and become experts.  Other folks want to see them all.
> 
>There are some people who want to identify subspecies to "bank it" for a  
>possible future split.  Others just want to understand the  distribution.  Still 
>others are interested in the identification  challenge.  And some just don't 
>care about subspecies at all.
> 
>There are folks who are far more interested in the conservation aspects of  
>birds and making sure that habitat is protected.  Others don't care much  about 
>this and don't want to be involved in such activities.
> 
>There are folks who love birds and birding who can still laugh at  themselves 
>and their colleagues and others who take birding so serioiusly that  they 
>cannot even crack a smile about any of the compulsive behavior.
> 
>And of course, there is every combination and permutation of the above that  
>anyone can imagine.  In short, there are as many kinds of birders as there  
>are of people.  All of the above folks are birders, all are legitimate  birders. 
> They are just different species.
> 
>Bob Mumford
>Darnestown
>  
>