Do people look at you in a weird way when your birding? (1 Viewer)

[Euan Buchan]

When you are out birding do you get a few people looking at you in a very iodd way? I get alot of it sometimes mainly from old people & young kids it's as if they have never seen people walking with binoculars before. All the staring puts me off sometimes so I walk away.

 

[Ian Hamiltan]

hi euan
no,noboby give gives me a second glance when im out birding,in fact
some people tend show interest in what ive seen.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Do the same walk.. but without the binocs.. and let us know if you get the same odd looks!

 

[jcwings]

In a word, YES. I don't let that stop me from enjoying what I love most though. Just wandering around with binoculars makes you look a little "suspicious" these days, but when I have my scope people think I'm taking pictures. Every now and then someone is genuinely curious and then I have a chance to enlighten someone.

 

[Kevin Groocock]

If people are sad enough to be concerned over what I am doing, that is their problem. I do get concerned if groups of "hoodies" take an interest though!

Kevin

 

[nickderry]

People give me weird looks all the time, my local patch is invaded by joggers and cyclists, and they stare!!! So I give them a little glance and they look away very quickly

 

[Euan Buchan]

and some kids today mainly teenagers,yobs etc will think we are perverts or something like that

 

[Vectis Birder]

Generally, no one turns a hair. However, if anyone does stare, a sharp 'Yes?' soon makes them look away.

 

[mattie]

Yes when im on my patch so i stare back then they usually look away

 

[nickderry]

I was spending some time staring at some bushes this morning, when some cyclists came past to tell me the view over the valley was much better from the other side of the hill. Hmm, maybe they thought I was lost. The trouble is in France is that birdwatching is still punishable by electric shock therapy as birds are for shooting and eating, not for watching.

And yes, everyone thinks my scope is either a camera or a gun. I remember in Lanzarote, in the Timanfaya national park, I was sketching some Trumpeter Finches through my scope when some park rangers came by, tutting, shaking their fingers and repeating 'no fotos, keine fotos, pas de photos, no fotos, no no no, etc. Why I'd have been DRAWING what I saw through the 'viewfinder'!!
Anyway, the park rangers soon understood that it wasn't a camera, obligingly identified my trumpeters as crows and went along their way.

 

[Gentoo]

Yes, when I'm out with my binoculars and especially with my camera, I probably look like one of those people neighborhood parents warn their children about.

Comes with the territory.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Coincidentally, I got heckled today! 3 women on bikes went past, and done the old mistaking the scope for a camera trick. One of them cycled past shouting "oooh! tell us when to smile! shall we smile now?"
Unfortunately, I can never think of the perfect response until it is too late, and they've gone.

 

[Wildmoreway]

If people are sad enough to be concerned over what I am doing, that is their problem. I do get concerned if groups of "hoodies" take an interest though!

Kevin

One afternoon in June last year I was at the southern end of the Ashlawn cutting at Rugby looking at Butterflies when in the distance I noticed a number of dubious looking (mostly young) individuals seemingly bashing away at the vegetaion and with a merry little bonfire underway. At first I was wary but decided to have a closer look, turned out they were a working party clearing up litter and repairing fences and cutting back encroaching shrubs. A necessary task in such situations.

SW

 

[The Raptor]

I do get the odd funny look, but mainly people are interested in what I have seen.

Rod.

 

[joe cockram]

Unfortunately, I can never think of the perfect response until it is too late, and they've gone.

I find that "F*** Off!" usually works well

 

[turkish van]

Is no one friendly anymore? If they look (sometimes strangely), smile and say hi/morning etc, they usually reply. If they don't look, smile and say hi/morning etc, they usually reply with an appreciative smile. If they don't, throw some eaten pine cones at them and claim it was the squirrel in the tree above

 

[The Raptor]

Interestingly, I have just heard on the radio, presenters talking about weirdos & suprisingly Birdwatching was mentioned. I really find it amazing that some people find it odd to Birdwatch, there probably the types who watch soap operas & those appaling reality TV programs. What is wrong with being interested in birds & wildlife in general, they are real life & not make believe. Give me fact & not fiction.

Rod.

 

[Lucky Birder]

A lot of young people, particularly in non rural areas might not have any concept of what birdwatching is and might be looking out of curiosity, in the same way as if you had two heads. I also find that the British are particularly sensitive to 'differentness' and will find someone with bins unusual. On the odd time I've been looking for Black Redstart in Nottingham I have attracted more than my fair share of stares. When photographing Pied wagtails at their roost last year, a couple of red necks walked by and the girl commented to her boyfriend, 'look at that sad b*****d'. I pity them that they find someone taking an interest in their avifauna, sad. I find I get fewer stares when birding the parks in Stockholm or Helsinki or anywhere in Spain, where people seem to accept you more. Personally, I've given up worrying about it and just accept it. I doubt I get confused with the sort of people their mother's warn them about as I often bird with my girlfriend, which tends to add to one's street cred.

I guess if we all worried about what others think, we would do a lot of worrying.

 

[joannec]

When you are out birding do you get a few people looking at you in a very iodd way? I get alot of it sometimes mainly from old people & young kids it's as if they have never seen people walking with binoculars before. All the staring puts me off sometimes so I walk away.

I think it's partly to do with how you feel about birding in public places. If you feel confident, then it doesn't matter what other people think, wherever you are. The one exception, I have felt, is when waiting for my children at their schools. If people see you with bins looking at something they are immediately suspicious in such a place....must be even worse for men.

 

[Storm-Petrel]

yes!! its so annoying! everyone just stares at me when i bird like maggots are coming out my eyes or something!! it really ticks me off!!