Genesis of a Birder (1 Viewer)

Hi BirdForum;

Are naturalists born or made? Or some combination thereof? I place myself in the “made” category, and have begun writing about my genesis as a naturalist, photographer, and birder, which took place in Saskatchewan, Canada, where I grew up. My naturalist story starts with, “The Pelicans of Peter Pond”, a memoir that I will present in installments on my blog, beginning today, and continuing every other day until the story ends. I invite you to follow along at:
http://blakemaybank.com

Cheers,

Blake Maybank
CSI Life blog

I think that they are made. As a child growing up I had no interest in birds or wildlife, beyond a mild curiosity. Then when i was 16 my father took me out (my brother had left for university and suddenly my father needed a new mate. One of the first birds i saw was a male yellow hammer. Singing loudly and as bright yellow as a canary. Ithought he was an escaped bird. Next i saw a male great tit, again in his brightest breeding colours of yellow and black. The sightings blew me away. I had never seen anything like it and my interest was piqued. I think to get us started on the amazing journey to understanding and enjoying nature we all need inspiration from somewhere which involves having our eyes opened and our passion ignited. Good luck with your blog. I am sure it will make interesting reading.

Although some naturalists might be 'made', I was personally born as a naturalist. Neither of my parents had a keen interest in nature or birds. My dad has absolutely no interest in traveling beyond what is necessary to pick up the morning paper and a cup of coffee. If he would have had his way, I would have studied to become a lawyer or politician (!). Although my mom was supportive of my interests to a point, she would never got out of her way to take me anywhere with wildlife or anything like that.

I grew up just seeing the birds, plants, and insects that lived in my yard. I would check out field guides from the USA, Costa Rica, and Papua New Guinea from the local public library and begin to draw the jewel-like birds inside them. I was absolutely fascinated by the birds found in the tropics, especially. I would take notes of birds I would see around my neighborhood, what time of year they showed up or left, when they would start singing, etc. I also loved fish -- a trip to the beach always involved me taking a bucket and a net and trying to scoop up seahorses and pipefish from the seagrass beds, then releasing them back at the end of the day. I began to get serious in the birding hobby when I obtained my first car, and I began to go seeing all of these fantastic animals and places in the flesh.

Carlos