Giving up birding (2 Viewers)

[oleaf]

James,

Why don't you take some beginner birders under your wing and help them learn what you already know. Sometimes teaching beginners reminds us all why we started birding in the first place. It's a kick to see someone excited about a bird you've seen a thousand times.

Or take someone out birding who had never thought of birding themselves.

Or... just dump the lists and enjoy birds when you see them. A lot of my birding happens when I'm on my bike... sans binoculars of course.

Cheers

 

[KorHaan]

I changed my gear when I became aware I wasn't having any fun anymore. I sold my scope and bought image stabilized bino's. That changed the way I was birding, now I walk and cycle a lot more, get more exercise and feel a lot better when I get back.
I used to stand on my local patch for hours on end, scoping the usual birds, waiting for something exciting to show up. Now that I don't have a scope and tripod anymore I wander about more.
Before I bought a scope I went birding with a single pair of bins, and I have seen some pretty rare birds in those days. It all came back to me when I packed up reluctantly for another day out in the field some day this early spring. It's no fun anymore, I thought, what am I doing here packing scope and tripod onto my bicycle? I hate all that stuff!
Get rid of it! So I did, and I'm back having fun while birding.

Regards,

Ronald

 

[Farnboro John]

Another idea (I totally endorse all the ones suggested on here, from listing mammals, butterlifes, Odonata, reptiles and amphibians etc to photography to taking a youngster under your wing - my latest protege is my wife):

Find someone of a similar ability to you and have a competition. I did it with a mate in Cheshire, we challenged each other to find the most species in a year within ten miles of home, and this forced us (a) out as much as we could manage (b) having done the obvious species and places, to explore the rest of the 60 square miles to see what good spots we were missing. We did it two years on the bounce and scores for both were in the 160s both years.

John

 

[BenR]

....... now I .... cycle a lot more.....

That's ok when you're in a country that aint got hills

 

[James]

Wow

Some good advice from lots of people (except the trainspotting advice - that was not called for!).
Patch watching has been fun at Pennington Flash but can become a bit like twitching once you get over 100 species. Not easy to add any.

Birding is a bit of a drug and unfortunately I got into the hard stuff too early by Twitching a Snowy Owl in Lincolnshire when my life list was below 100 (two weeks into the hobby).

I suspect the combination of the weather, bending my car, facing possible redundancy might have siomething to do with a jaded pallette. Whoever suggested the malt whisky is right and I will be tipping a bottle several times tonight!

James

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Wow

Some good advice from lots of people (except the trainspotting advice - that was not called for!).
Patch watching has been fun at Pennington Flash but can become a bit like twitching once you get over 100 species. Not easy to add any.

Birding is a bit of a drug and unfortunately I got into the hard stuff too early by Twitching a Snowy Owl in Lincolnshire when my life list was below 100 (two weeks into the hobby).

I suspect the combination of the weather, bending my car, facing possible redundancy might have siomething to do with a jaded pallette. Whoever suggested the malt whisky is right and I will be tipping a bottle several times tonight!

James

In the words of Homer Simpson, "Alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all life's problems!" I might have a few myself James B B B

PS: hope the redundancy doesn't happen, and that something really good turns up and keeps you interested.

 

[borealowl47]

Here in Canada,when winter comes,what to see.
Take a closer look at the chickadee.
You might learn something about their strife
And something about your own life!

 

[David FG]

Wow

Some good advice from lots of people (except the trainspotting advice - that was not called for!).
Patch watching has been fun at Pennington Flash but can become a bit like twitching once you get over 100 species. Not easy to add any.

Birding is a bit of a drug and unfortunately I got into the hard stuff too early by Twitching a Snowy Owl in Lincolnshire when my life list was below 100 (two weeks into the hobby).

I suspect the combination of the weather, bending my car, facing possible redundancy might have siomething to do with a jaded pallette. Whoever suggested the malt whisky is right and I will be tipping a bottle several times tonight!

James

Well, if your aim is simply to see and tick, then inevitably you are going to grind to a halt at some point, and if that's your thing, then fine. Of course it's entirely a matter for the individual - you can do what you like.

But for many people there's a lot more to birding than that - the study of behaviour, population dynamics, whatever.

There's enough there to keep a lot of people busy (even in common species) for several lifetimes.

 

[David FG]

I have the perfect answer to your problem right HERE!

How could I have forgotten that?

Wonder what happened to Curt...

(And rather more importantly, his sister.)

 

[Alcina]

You could try year listing, trying to see more birds each year than you did last year. If you stick to competing against yourself you might find it rekindles your enthusiasm. At least you get a rush every Jan 1st, if nothing else. I've got so into year listing that I generally go for a bird which isn't a lifer but which is likely to perform well and get ticked than a much rarer lifer which is likely to be elusive (Pied Wheatear rather than a rare warbler for example)

Or you could try doing Big Days or Big Weeks or trying to see all the UK breeding species or something.

 

[Scott_sg]

The trick to enjoying anything is not to take it too seriously.

On a semi-technical note, there is still plenty not known about so called common birds. Even pigeons are interesting when you get into behaviour etc. Apparently they are good at counting and all sorts of other weird things.

Still like any relationship a bit of space never hurts at times.

 

[Steve Babbs]

I think most birders who have been doing it for a long while have periods when it seems dull. I know I can be particulalry bad after a foreign trip. If you've just spent 5 weeks or so birding the mountains and rainforests of Peru flogging around your local patch and seeing very little can seem a bit dull. I totally agree about getting into other groups, something I've always done, but that's not so great at this time of year.

It does sound like you're down generally but it is birding that's got me through bad periods of my life. Maybe take a bit of a break and you may come back to it refreshed? Maybe you go out too often. I know I got much more enthusastic about British birding when I stopped working for the RSPB. I always thought going out in the field 7 days a week would be fantastic but you can have too much of a good thing.

Right rain stopped time to go and see very little at my local patch.

 

[kristoffer]

This period of the year is no fun for birding, but it starts all over again soon. In May this is the best hobby/lifestyle in the world.

 

[JeffMoh]

Like some of the other posters, I'd recommend taking up photographing birds. Trying to get "the perfect" shot of even the most common birds should keep you involved. You'll find it particularly challenging if you limit yourself to a superzoom compact digital rather than a DSLR with a 500 0r 600mm lens!

And photography gets you looking at birds and their behaviour in a different way from "normal" birdwatching.

Jeff
www.jeffincypress.blogspot.com

 

[Steve Babbs]

Like some of the other posters, I'd recommend taking up photographing birds. Trying to get "the perfect" shot of even the most common birds should keep you involved. You'll find it particularly challenging if you limit yourself to a superzoom compact digital rather than a DSLR with a 500 0r 600mm lens!

And photography gets you looking at birds and their behaviour in a different way from "normal" birdwatching.

Jeff
www.jeffincypress.blogspot.com

You'll still find it a challenge with a 500mm lens, trust me.