• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

What are your goodwill and bad-will moments? (1 Viewer)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Well-known member
In this season of goodwill, I thought I'd ask:
what's the nicest thing you've ever done when bird watching?
what's the nastiest thing you've ever done when bird watching?

Peter
 
I've never done anything nasty when out birding - I see it as a positive activity to be involved in and always take a positive attitude when I'm out.
 
I put my friend Clare on my shoulders to see a Greater Yellowlegs over a particularly dense crowd (seemingly in both senses) at Rockliffe. I guess that was nice.

Nasty... I'm having a think. I think there's a difference between naughty (e.g. going round the first corner of the Dungeness RSPB access track (5mph speed limit) in a four-wheel drift going for Audouin's Gull) and actually being malicious.

I chuckled once when I got the last space in a car park at a twitch when the next nearest parking was a good half-mile away, does that count?

John
 
JTweedie said:
I've never done anything nasty when out birding - I see it as a positive activity to be involved in and always take a positive attitude when I'm out.
Click to expand...

I was thinking along the lines of wind-ups. The stereotypical mainly male, competitive hobby which we pursue does, in my experience, result in all sorts of shenanigans.

I recall a twitch where a carload of four of us was due to depart at 04.00. One of our crew, Jim, was renowned for his lateness, which can be very irritating when repeated several times and when time is of the essence. This time, he was early, causing a plan to be hatched. He got into the back of the car and we hid him, covering him up with a huge pile of wet weather clothing. One of the other crew members (Dave) sat beside him. When the fourth member of the crew (Tony) arrived, I said we'd leave on the dot of 04.00, whether Jim had arrived or not. At 04.00 (in darkness), we left, with Tony believing we'd finally snapped regarding Jim's tardiness. As we came to the motorway, Tony asked if we were sure we didn't want to go back for Jim. I asked Dave if he agreed we should go back. He did. I then asked Jim if he thought we should go back (for him). A muffled "Yes" came from under the pile of coats, followed by a protracted, slowly-dawning silence from Tony. His explosion of expletives was creative and lengthy.
Tony's credentials in terms of kindness to his friends was never higher; Jim was late, as usual, for the next twitch.

Peter
 
I don't go on twitches (well apart for one time for a great white egret near me) and always go birding on my own, so there's no chance of being in those situations!
 
Some lads on the Farnborough College ConMan course who had a fairly dopey guy in their crew once kidded him they were all watching a female Green-winged Teal - I think it was at Marton Mere.

John
 
I don't do naughty things :eek!: .....I'm a Good Girl o:)

Tho'......if I must confess....there WAS a time when we went into a hide at Leighton Moss and there was already a group in there yabbering away about all manner of things (not bird-related) quite loudly and after a couple of minutes my hubby Neil asked me ''What was that brown bird you were looking at in the Grizedale Hide called again?'' I said ''A bittern, darling''
At which there was silence and the hide rapidly emptied :-O
Well....we HAD been watching a bittern for a few minutes so it wasn't an untruth.....we just didn't get the chance to say it had disappeared off into the reeds again becuse everybody scarpered ;)

As to nice things.....I always try to show folks what I'm looking at.....whether they're interested in nature or not! :-O And if a nice bird shows itself I'll always point it out to my fellow birders in the hide etc.
 
Johann Sebastian Bach said:
I recall a twitch where a carload of four of us was due to depart at 04.00. One of our crew, Jim, was renowned for his lateness, which can be very irritating when repeated several times and when time is of the essence. This time, he was early, causing a plan to be hatched. He got into the back of the car and we hid him, covering him up with a huge pile of wet weather clothing. One of the other crew members (Dave) sat beside him. When the fourth member of the crew (Tony) arrived, I said we'd leave on the dot of 04.00, whether Jim had arrived or not. At 04.00 (in darkness), we left, with Tony believing we'd finally snapped regarding Jim's tardiness. As we came to the motorway, Tony asked if we were sure we didn't want to go back for Jim. I asked Dave if he agreed we should go back. He did. I then asked Jim if he thought we should go back (for him). A muffled "Yes" came from under the pile of coats, followed by a protracted, slowly-dawning silence from Tony. His explosion of expletives was creative and lengthy.
Tony's credentials in terms of kindness to his friends was never higher; Jim was late, as usual, for the next twitch.
Click to expand...

:-O Brilliant! :t:
 
Surely someone here has pretended they may have just glimpsed the target bird from one of the side windows of a crowded hide at a twitch, only to discretely nab one of the suddenly available seats? ;)
 
No but I've had it happen to me! :smoke: A few weeks ago at Cresswell Pond I had a lovely comfy seat and the hide to myself. I saw the Jack Snipe that had been hanging around for a while and as other birders turned up I showed it to them as it WAS pretty tricky to see if you weren't looking in exactly the right spot. Before I knew it I was standing at the back of the hide whilst everyone else had hogged all the seats!!!!! :smoke: :-O
 
nicest probably rescued a dog or given a lift home to a fellow birder or perhaps the time I walked over a mile to make sure some guys connected with a Bonapartes Gull I'd seen and knew they wanted bad.

nasty.....have to be laughing at the old fella when he fell off his new stick seat.
(It was just the way he looked to see if anybody saw it) B :)
 
In the 1980s, I encountered several times in Central Europe, a bus-load of birders from a bird club from an anonymous northern county comprised of ridings. They were keen and pretty knowledgeable, but one of the party, who did seem three ha'pence short of a sixpence and had the eyesight of Eli Duckett from Last of the Summer Wine, clearly had the uncanny ability to get up everyone's nose all his waking hours. Every time I encountered him, he would be uttering the plaintive pleas "'Ave ye seen me friends?" and "Which way to me bus?".

It was pretty cruel of the others in the party to desert him instantly they arrived at a birding location, but utterly understandable.

On the other hand, I was able to show him a Night Heron colony at Marchegg that everyone on the embankment had walked past, before I directed him back to the bus...
MJB
 
Last edited:
Without doubt the best thing I've ever done is help a just about dead (actually I thought it was a few days gone) Southern Boobook Owl to be saved.

It was tangled up in some carelessly discarded fishing line at a local wetland / cum recreation spot. Hanging upside down in a small tree, lifeless, eyes not only closed but sunken, and with crows milling about. I contacted the local ranger with the view of getting some photos / articles / publicity, to put a rocket up all the numpty's so that the poor little critters death wouldn't be in vain.

When they rowed out in a boat to pull it down, it must have lifted half an eye lid or something - so it was rushed off to vets, owl whisperers, you name it! several days of checking, tlc, feeding, and rehydration, and it was right as rain - released later that week as good as ever. Absolute miracle that there were no broken bones or other injuries from the fishing line.

Made my year when I heard that it had survived !! o:D

Ok, so now the worst:
Would have to be the many times I have blundered along and disturbed some poor bird. This is despite at times taking hours and hours to approach birds undetected, and then remove myself undetected as well.

Yet every time I blunder along, I curse myself for not paying more attention.
Doh! C- ,Will try harder .........


Chosun :gh:
 
MJB said:
In the 1980s, I encountered several times in Central Europe, a bus-load of birders from a bird club from an anonymous northern county comprised of ridings. They were keen and pretty knowledgeable, but one of the party, who did seem three ha'pence short of a sixpence and had the eyesight of Eli Duckett from Last of the Summer Wine, clearly had the uncanny ability to get up everyone's nose all his waking hours. Every time I encountered him, he would be uttering the plaintive pleas "'Ave ye seen me friends?" and "Which way to me bus?".

It was pretty cruel of the others in the party to desert him instantly they arrived at a birding location, but utterly understandable.

On the other hand, I was able to show him a Night Heron colony at Marchegg that everyone on the embankment had walked past, before I directed him back to the bus...
MJB
Click to expand...

Did this bloke have thick round glasses, a hairy tweed jacket and "teeth the Druids could use as a place of worship"? If so we used to know him by his other catch-phrase of "'Ave yer seeen it?" (third e is deliberate) :-O

John
 
I am usually doing urban birding, by myself, so I haven't messed about with other birders, at all. I get messed with/made fun of occasionally, though. People have asked me if I'm playing detective, looking in people's windows with my telephoto lens, et cetera. (I think it's pretty obvious I'm looking at birds, as I'm always sitting somewhere near a bunch of birds, but people will have their jokes!) I also had someone sneak up behind me and say "boo," but that was someone I knew.

Nicest thing I've done? Well, I have nothing to match the saving of the boobook owl, mentioned upthread! But a lady once noticed I had a camera, and asked if I'd take a picture of her dog and e-mail it to her, so I obliged her with several shots.

I wish I had someone to go birding with, but I don't know a soul in this neighbourhood, much less anybody who likes birds.
 
Farnboro John said:
Did this bloke have thick round glasses, a hairy tweed jacket and "teeth the Druids could use as a place of worship"? If so we used to know him by his other catch-phrase of "'Ave yer seeen it?" (third e is deliberate) :-O John
Click to expand...


John,
If you are acquainted with the area bounded by Otley, Guiseley, Menston, Yeadon, Bramhope, Wharfedale and a certain town abutting a famous moor, then we might both have run for cover from the same bloke...
MJB:eek!:
 
Warning! This thread is more than 11 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

hannibalscannibal
What's Your Current Target Bird?
Replies
5
Views
787
Jeff Hopkins
Jeff Hopkins
Euan Buchan
What Month(s) do you Birdwatch less?
2
Replies
20
Views
1K
Scott98
S
jurek
Blackcap singing like a Nightingale
Replies
9
Views
938
David_
D
E
Bad weather brings good birds, but you can't bird in bad weather!
Replies
18
Views
1K
David Ferguson
D
E
Do you tick birds which are made tame by food?
2
Replies
23
Views
2K
Sangahyando
S

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top