• 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.

Are you a "Bottle" or a "Flask" Birder? (1 Viewer)

Chewbaxter

Chewbaxter

Reformed "Bird Ignorer"!
Just a bit of nonsense and pure noseyness on my part.

When I'm out and about, I've usually got a bottle of water with me, but I've noticed that some birders take a trusty thermos flask (why it's 'trusty' I don't know, it's an expression I've heard though) with hot tea or coffee.

I might change to a thermos as the weather gets cooler, but I'm not sure yet.

Which do you prefer?



Neil.
 
This modern nonsense for the need to carry drinks for every five minute event is just ridiculous IMHO.
You see people out for a little jog, or a short walk and they are provisioned for a three day yomp across the Andes.
In my day people could go literally seconds on end without needing to drink. Sometimes, difficult as it is to imagine now, we managed to cross an entire room without having to "rehydrate" on the way.
 
Psst... between me and thee, I keep the bottle in my car, although I've seen people in the hides etc. with flasks.

You're right re: the 'rehydrating' thing though - I drink plenty water, yet I don't have a bottle with me (I did a 5K run last year and didn't need a bottle in my hand for it).


Maybe I should have called this the 'preferred beverage' thread?


Neil.
 
The good thing about flasks is that they keep cold things cold and hot things hot.
l keep a pastie and an ice cream in mine.
 
halftwo said:
The good thing about flasks is that they keep cold things cold and hot things hot.
l keep a pastie and an ice cream in mine.
Click to expand...


:t: I was waiting for that one!

Personally, I keep a flask of hot tea in the freezer - therefore making it hot AND cold at the same time!


Neil.
 
I do take a bottle of squash with me or a flask of tea in the winter as when I'm out birding I do tend to make a day of it.
 
Chewbaxter said:
Just a bit of nonsense and pure noseyness on my part.

When I'm out and about, I've usually got a bottle of water with me, but I've noticed that some birders take a trusty thermos flask (why it's 'trusty' I don't know, it's an expression I've heard though) with hot tea or coffee.

I might change to a thermos as the weather gets cooler, but I'm not sure yet.

Which do you prefer?



Neil.
Click to expand...

My dear boy I am never without a flask,how could you possibly go throughout the day without a regular supply of malt.The mere thought brings me out in a sweat.

POP
 
Bottle of water for me, but I'm not a big tea/coffee drinker. (And it's tap water in an old bottle, not a new bottle of mineral water every time - biggest con of the century so far that!)

All depends on the time of year - the sun beating down on you in July you need some water, but a crisp autumn morning you probably don't.
 
Couldn't survive without ny hot, milky, sweet coffee while relaxing in a hide.
In fact it's the reason I go.
 
POP said:
My dear boy I am never without a flask,how could you possibly go throughout the day without a regular supply of malt.The mere thought brings me out in a sweat.

POP
Click to expand...

Psst. My dear Pop, keep this under your Topper, what what, but I'm one of the few Northern Oiks who's teetotal!

The fact that I'm also a veggie early gets me burned in a Wicker Man almost every week too!


Gracious!


:t:


Neil.
 
Chewbaxter said:
Which do you prefer?



Neil.
Click to expand...
Great idea for a thread, Neil. On a short outing, nothing. If it´s an all-day job, then I must bring both. Bottle of water, plus Thermos with sachets both of coffee and tea, during the day I drink both. Sweet dates, brazil nuts and cashews to go with the coffee. Baguettes with Serrano Ham and Emmenthal cheese, plus a sprinkling of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Some fruit. A jar of olives and another of sun-dried tomatoes. Perhaps a Danish Pastry or suchlike for later in the day when I begin to fade. I´m not joking, this is really what I prepare when I head off for a long day out, and I have been ribbed by it by fellow-birders who can subsist on a few lousy tin-foil wrapped samboes or something nasty bought in a garage-shop on the way down. I can´t keep birding all day without frequent refreshment breaks, the blood-sugar goes down and I begin to lose interest!
 
Normally have a small bottle of cola with me, or sometimes water. Cola can be dangerous though as explosive belching could panic the birds! |8.| Don't have a small flask, but might try taking one with black coffee in the winter - I do find that unless I have water or coke, something watery and cold, I seem to stay thirsty and can end up with a migraine. Probably worth having a go if it's really cold though, as an experiment - will look around for a decent small thermos... if I get a plaid one then I can feel like a REAL birdwatcher! :-O


Excuse the very newbie question... what's a 'lifer crossbill'? :h?:
 
i try not to drink before or during birding because there's never any toilets and i really dislike the idea of pissing on a nature reserve or any habitat in which i might choose to bird, but especially nature reserves. it's had to be done on a couple of occasions though.
 
Sancho said:
I can´t keep birding all day without frequent refreshment breaks, the blood-sugar goes down and I begin to lose interest!
Click to expand...

Aha - I forgot, the aulde 'calorific'/sugary stuff...

For me, I can manage okay, but often on the way back from Martin Mere, I'll get a bag of 'American Hard Gums' from Tesco, or a Yorkie.

Any excuse for eating cr*p really though... but I justify it by saying:

"Well, I have done a fair bit of walking you know"

(I don't mention the 'fair bit of sitting' in the hides though - we'll leave that).

:t:

Neil.
 
totaljohn said:
i try not to drink before or during birding because there's never any toilets and i really dislike the idea of pissing on a nature reserve or any habitat in which i might choose to bird, but especially nature reserves. it's had to be done on a couple of occasions though.
Click to expand...

Aha - I take it you've never had the pleasure of 'weeing in the grid' as a kid.

True Lancashire pastime... and often just because yer too lazy to nip upstairs for a waz!

:t:

Funnily enough, several innebriated gen'men regularly do that on a carpark nearby when the pub closes - reliving their childhood I guess!


:D


Neil.
 
I'm a coffee junkie, so it's a flask for me. I use one of those fisherman's backpacks that has a built-in stool. It's almost like taking your own café with you. It does interfere with actual birding sometimes, but very good for bird-ignoring, Chew, if you want to try it.
 
I take water in the summer and a flask of something hot in the winter. In the winter I sometimes carry a hip flask with something stronger in it just to help keep the spirits up (as they go down!) when sitting for hours waiting for 'that' bird! VERY occaisionally I will take the hip flask at other times. This is a survival aid!
 
Warning! This thread is more than 16 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

M
Has anyone noticed their NL Pure binoculars misting up?
4 5 6
Replies
113
Views
15K
UTGrad
UTGrad
G
  • Article
Pigeon- Counting In Leith
Replies
0
Views
265
Green Sandpiper
G
G
  • Article
2024: The Beginning
Replies
4
Views
534
Green Sandpiper
G
G
  • Article
Broken Biscuits Birdwatching
Replies
6
Views
559
Stonefaction
Stonefaction
G
  • Article
Evolution of a birder
Replies
0
Views
580
Green Sandpiper
G

Users who are viewing this thread

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