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Your Birding Style (1 Viewer)

Birding Preferences

  • Bird alone

    Votes: 208 61.9%

  • Bird with a friend

    Votes: 116 34.5%

  • Bird with a group

    Votes: 9 2.7%

  • Bird with an expert/guide

    Votes: 3 0.9%
  • Total voters
    336
It was tough to answer the forced choice here. I answered "with a friend", though I often bird alone and I also lead a lot of field trips/tours.

As the comments above have indicated, there is seldom just one way we bird.

It would be interesting to get a sense of proportion; i.e. what percentage of your time to you spend doing the following:

Bird Alone
Bird With a Friend
Bird With a Group
Bird With a Guide?
 
I also answered 'alone' but that is my preference.

Once a month I lead a group of birders and newbies but I get so busy answering questions that I truly don't consider myself birding in those instances.
 
I suppose I could have broken the choices into 10 or so, but I wanted to keep it simple.

I did not intend to make it "rocket science" or use it for some big research project. I will leave that to others.
 
Bird with a friend most of the time . But do go on my own alot too if she cant manage .
Never bird in groups I find that to much folks around and the birds head for the other side of the woods .
Cheers
AL
 
Reality is mostly solo birding, as spouse is photography focused.
When practicable, like birding with a group, more eyes usually produce more birds.
That said, it works only if the focus is on the birds.
Once people interactions get rolling, group birding is toast.
 
mostly alone as its part of my nature to do it all the time....so not conciously watching, if you know what i mean...first started with a friend, then went to some classes with jerry thrussell...but that was 30year ago!!!!
 
I prefer to bird with 1 other person, or 2 at a push. Any more and it's a bit distracting. In practice I either bird alone, or more often with my girlfriend who is casually interested, so the birding's better on days when she's in the mood for it, and for finding stuff too.

I'd generally only use a guide on those annoying occasions when you are not allowed to bird that site without one, and it's impossible to sneak in without getting caught. But having said that I've learnt lots from guides too and obviously been shown birds by them that I'd otherwise not have seen, and in some cases it can effect the local economy and environment in a positive way, so I can see the appeal.

One thing I'd be interested to know is whether or not the desire to bird with a guide is commoner amongst birders from some countries than others. I've got some theories on this, but they could well be wrong ;)
 
I don't have problems with the idea of using a guide, if the money and time is there. If you don't know if you will ever get a chance to bird a country or region again because of time or money, why not improve your odds of finding the specialties with local knowledge?
 
Mysticete said:
... why not improve your odds of finding the specialties with local knowledge?
Click to expand...

Each to their own, and I certainly would not criticise those who like to take guides, but for me much of the fun of birding is the searching and finding. Then much of the enjotment if quiet contemplation of the bird. To me, it's rather sterile with a guide, may as well go to a zoo.

That said, I think the experience with a guide can vary vastly depending on where you are and what guide you get - there are guides and there are guides, ie. in my very limited experience (as I avoid them like the plague, even running away from the compulsory ones) in some countries, where guides are compulsory, the guides are absolutely crap and just destroy the whole atmosphere (India, Sri Lanka spring to mind), elsewhere guides can be absolutley fantastic (South Africa springs to mind)
 
Indeed...I have only heard horror stories about some of the mandatory ones in Southeast Asia. I will probably head to Panama this summer and will probably make use of guides. I am way too neurotic I think to undergo the kind of birding trips you and others have done in the past.

Japan I mostly birded by myself, but I employed a guide on two occasions. One was for tracking down some paddyfield shorebirds I wanted to see, and the other to track down a couple of rather localized birds (Yellow and Eurasian Bittern, Japanese Reed Bunting, and Marsh Grassbird). The best sites for both were difficult to reach via public transit, and after car rental and tolls I might as well have gotten a guide. The paddyfield spots were also very dependent on local knowledge, since only a small number of sites in a vast agricultural area had just enough water to be attractive for the birds I was looking for.
 
Would not go w/o a guide into countries where I don't speak the language and infrastructure is basic, especially if time is limited.
Plus I've been very happy with the experience to date, in Panama, with Jacobo Ortega (http://www.birdinginpanama.com/4357.html) and Peru with Silverio Duri ([email protected]).
When these guys are really good, as is the case here, their skills are a bargain. particularly measured against the cost of the trip. Their knowledge allows the trip to have minimal dead/transit time versus birding time.
 
Jos Stratford said:
Each to their own, and I certainly would not criticise those who like to take guides, but for me much of the fun of birding is the searching and finding. Then much of the enjotment if quiet contemplation of the bird. To me, it's rather sterile with a guide, may as well go to a zoo.

That said, I think the experience with a guide can vary vastly depending on where you are and what guide you get - there are guides and there are guides, ie. in my very limited experience (as I avoid them like the plague, even running away from the compulsory ones) in some countries, where guides are compulsory, the guides are absolutely crap and just destroy the whole atmosphere (India, Sri Lanka spring to mind), elsewhere guides can be absolutley fantastic (South Africa springs to mind)
Click to expand...

Outside of North America and Europe I often hire guides.
Fortunately I have only had one bad experience with a guide and that was in the Gambia - it was not due his lack of birding ability but he was constantly trying to milk us for more money (unsuccessfully).

Earlier this year I birded southern and central Sri-Lanka with a driver/guide called Chaminda who was with Baurs. He was one of the best guides I have ever birded with - a superb and enthusiastic birder and an affable bloke as well. I guess it is partly pot luck.

In South Africa I hardly used guides, but when I did it was well worth it as we certainly wouldn't have seen aardvark otherwise.

Use of local 'nature' guides, particularly in third world countries is probably for the most part beneficial to conservation, at least to their conservation.
 
I go birding alone, but that is more through circumstances than choice. Our local bird group has a walk once a month but the rest of the time, I go alone.
When I go abroad I like to find a local birder to join up with but, otherwise, I go alone abroad, too.
 
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