The most frustrating part of birding for me is........ (1 Viewer)

I am fairly new to birding (4 years or so......) and find it a most frustrating hobby. I have long term neck & balance problems and my husband says, quite rightly, I couldn't have found a more unsuitable hobby for my condition!! That aside, there are so many frustrations. Here are a few, but I'm sure you can add to them. How many times do you hear a bird but can't see it, see a bird (not too clearly) but can't hear it! How many times do you get your 'scope & camera set up..........damn, too late!

Being able to name most British birds pictured in my field guide, photos in magazines or shots on TV is all well and good, but give me a bird in dappled sunlight or at 8pm on a summers evening and I'm completely foxed. They just look so different in real life........

Last summer I watched a very pretty pinky buff coloured bird picking insects off leaves in a scrubby orchard area near our home for a full half hour, only a few feet away and I still don't know what it was!! Many's the time I've come home from a walk with hubby having left the field guide at home (silly girl!) and seen a new bird. Got a good mental picture of it but it doesn't match anything in the books.............arghh!! So frustrating! I know I have a lot to learn, which is quite an exciting prospect (imagine knowing everything about birds?!) but sometimes I wish I had taken up stamp collecting!

amelia1730 said:

Last summer I watched a very pretty pinky buff coloured bird picking insects off leaves in a scrubby orchard area near our home for a full half hour, only a few feet away and I still don't know what it was!! !

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Don't worry, real life birding is a lot harder than just trying to id a bird from a guide or a photo, and that's what makes a good birder. Most of us can do an id in the comfort of our own home, but try it into the sun/rain/wind and a fleeting glimpse...........

The bird you speak of sounds like a Bullfinch to me. Colour and habitat sound about perfect.

Keep at it though, I'm sure it'll get easier. Thats what I keep telling myself anyway!!!

Hi Dougie
Thanks for your suggestion but it definately wasn't a Bullfinch. It had a flycatcher type beak. I think its colouring was probably less pinky/buff than it appeared. Summer evening sun causing confusion again!

The biggest frustration for me is not being able to spend enough time at it.

Ironically, I currently spend an awfull lot of time birding, probably more than I should. For example last year I visited my local patch on over 200 different days, and went out birding on my bike on nearly 60 different days. But these are only short bursts of activity, for an hour or two. I'd like to really immerse myself in it.

I should have been born in the same era as Peter Scott. I would have liked to live in an old lighthouse on the marsh, and spent months and years studying the birds of the marsh - that's my kind of birding. I wouldn't need a car, just shanks's pony and a push bike. That would do me.

Being married with a family and in this day and age, the best I can hope for is to experience as much as possible in short doses of birding, but never quite achieving my dream.

Coigach said:

The biggest frustration for me is not being able to spend enough time at it.

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My thoughts exactly. Between my job, family, and other commitments, there just isn't enough time to bird the way I'd want to.

I know exactly what you mean about annoyances, today i had my worst type of frustration in being able to see loads of birds but them being just to distant for a positive id. The sun thing bugs me too.
A flock of thrushes making its way across a field, but of course the other side of the field to me. I think they were song thrushes and perhaps one or two mistle on the pheriphery, Perhasp one or two could have been redwings, i just dont know. Luckily I'd seen a redwing earlier otherwise i would have been really miffed.
But I always see something that makes it all worthwhile by the time i get home. Today it was a thousand pink feet landing in a field, then taking off, then landing etc. the noise and spectacle is great.
Try and concentrate on the postive sides of things, like what you have seen rather than what you missed, although I do know what you mean. Happy new year as well.

I've been birdwatching all my life and have surprised myself in the past 10 years with what I have "just learned" about birds, and the new birds I have added to what I thought was a pretty good life list. I grew up in a fabulous conservation area, and thought I just knew it all -- but the habitat was heavy woods, so I had yet to learn about birds who inhabit open fields, or are attracted to water. Moved to a house on a pond and a whole new bird world opened up! Now I find myself spending more time observing bird behavior, because I have that opportunity. It's another facet of the hobby.

I find myself saying, "How did you miss all this along the way?" But it's just that birding it's a HUGE field (no pun intended), gloriously huge, and for all the bird ID books out there, bird identification is NOT a textbook subject. There are admittedly lots of variables: juvenile or adult? male or female? There are known similar species that are tough to distinguish (just think of ALL those types of sparrows) -- or add in a few oddities, such as leucism, feathers without pigmentation; I saw a crow with feathers like this last year and thought, wow, a new species! Nope, not at all.

For ID purposes, keep yourself stocked with up-to-date books. I referred to my "trusty Peterson field guide" once on this website and people were like, "Get something more current!" I did, and it has been extremely helpful, especially with identifying birds of prey. But still, each winter, hawks come to my yard and hang out, for several minutes; we can see all the identifying marks we need, but still can't positively ID. Cooper's hawk? Sharp-shinned? After a while, I just give up and settle for enjoying the lengthy close-up views of this fabulous bird.

When it really bugs me, I come here and ask for help identifying the bird. It usually turns out that I was certain it was (blank), but it was something entirely different. I am never disappointed when I ask for help here!

amelia1730 said:

Last summer I watched a very pretty pinky buff coloured bird picking insects off leaves in a scrubby orchard area near our home for a full half hour, only a few feet away and I still don't know what it was!!

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Whitethroat?

amelia1730 said:

Last summer I watched a very pretty pinky buff coloured bird picking insects off leaves in a scrubby orchard area near our home for a full half hour, only a few feet away and I still don't know what it was!!

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Could it have been a male Chaffinch?

Runaround said:

My thoughts exactly. Between my job, family, and other commitments, there just isn't enough time to bird the way I'd want to.

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Just to take this a little further, and explain what I mean by immersing myself in birding, as opposed to what I do now which is spend a lot of time birding in short bursts, here is a quote from Richard Perry in his excellent book "A Naturalist on Lindisfarne":

"For just as the writer must submerge his own personality and emotions in those of the characters he intends portraying, so the naturalist must endeavour to attune himself to a world that lives at a different tempo from the world of Man........it is no use pretending that one can be in perfect sympathy with nature at the week-end, and an author or farmer or scientist, say, during the week..........I cannot, speaking for myself, be writing a book and walking in perfect accord with nature at one and the same season: my mental alertness is divided, and I am restless, uneasy, and out of harmony with the natural phenomena about me. To reap Nature's richest harvest, I must devote my full physical and mental powers to her only. "

In otherwords, you can't truly understand nature if you divide your time between nature study and other work.

I have experienced this briefly myself. About 3 years ago I hit a low point in my life so far, I lost two people who were very close to me and was made redundant within the space of six months. I was in a real bad state mentally, and decided to take six months off work to recuperate before I would even start looking for a new job.

I resolved to visit my local patch on every single day I was off, for at least four hours per visit, come rain or shine (or snow or fog as it transpired on some days!). I would be there at dawn, and I would record and count every species I saw and would write a report about my experiences at the end.

By this time I had already been visiting my local patch regularly for 15 years, so thought I knew it well. How wrong I was! During the six months recuperation, I learnt so much about the place, and about the birds that inhabited it. I almost knew the birds personally, as individuals, and could instantly tell if something had changed, even minor things. It was almost like I knew nothing previously!

At the end of the six months I had achieved my goal, and visited every single day, even days when I had to force myself off my sickbed to go. I got myself another job, and gradually the feeling of familiarity with the place faded. I still go at least twice a week, probably averaging 150 times per year, but though I've never lost the knowledge I picked up, I'm not as close to the place now as I was then. I feel almost like an intruder now.

That's the difference between immersing yourself in birding and just birding a lot. Unfortunately, there are very, very few people who are able to do it to that level, even amongst full time naturalists

Amelia, the fact that it´s sometimes hard is part of the attraction, IMO. If the birds always offered themselves up for easy ID, there wouldn´t be much challenge in it! Carry a notebook and jot down the important features, maybe a little sketch, then compare what you´ve written to the field guides at home (it´s too hard to leaf through a field guide when you´re trying to see the bird!). Coigach....I agree wholeheartedly, and with family, job, etc., I don´t get out birding even 10% as much as you do, so you must be doing something right. A solitary life in a lighthouse birding 24/7 (maybe with time off for an occasional cycle!) sounds idyllic, but if we had it we might yearn for....family! I guess when the kids are a bit older, you and I will each get to spend more time with birds (I bet we´ll miss spending time with the kids then!).

Sancho said:

...Coigach....I agree wholeheartedly, and with family, job, etc., I don´t get out birding even 10% as much as you do, so you must be doing something right. A solitary life in a lighthouse birding 24/7 (maybe with time off for an occasional cycle!) sounds idyllic, but if we had it we might yearn for....family! I guess when the kids are a bit older, you and I will each get to spend more time with birds (I bet we´ll miss spending time with the kids then!).

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Definately will miss the time with the kids. Mine are 16 and nearly 14, so I already don't spend as much time with them as I used too, and already I'm missing the time we used to spend together. However, as you say, new doors open and new opportunities arise.

You're right of course, that we shouldn't wish too hard in case our dreams come true, and in reality I probably would hate the 24/7 birding. I'd just like the chance to really study the subject rather than just view wildlife as pictures in an art gallery.

For me, I suppose the most "frustrating" aspect is being a bit isolated from the mainland UK and easier access to the country's best birding areas - the Solent adds at least an hour to travel times and the ferries are expensive.

However, on the other hand, I am content to live with that because the Isle of Wight is my home and I like living here.

The most frustrating thing for me is not being able to walk and do my birding from the car, 2008 here I come.

bitterntwisted said:

Whitethroat?

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Thanks -that is the thought I had and still have. It's in an area I watch badgers regularly from Spring onwards so hopefully will get another sighting this year.

That is frustrating Henry, but where there's a will there's a way! I have mobility problems but am not confined to the car. Have to rely on hubby for support when walking so can't take off when I feel like it. I do watch from the car often though and it's amazing how animals and birds ignore you when you're in a vehicle - particularly badgers, muntjac and rabbits.
Happy New Year everyone!