What started you birding. (3 Viewers)

[Ashley beolens]

I think I have to blame/thank my dad (now internationally recognised as Fatbirder) although my mum was the one who took me out most as a child.

My earliest memory of birdwatching was at minsmere, for years (probably not that many but I was young and it felt like an eternity) I had dreamed of seeing a kingfisher (I see them every day I walk my patch now) and had tried unsuccessfully to see them with my dad a number of times. On this day I was with my mum in one of the hides (the one nearest the carpark at that time) sitting quietly, watching Godwits and Avocets sweeping the scrape for food, when all of a sudden a blue flash caught my eye, and low and behold i had found my first Kingfisher, unfortunatly I could not contain my childish exuberance and bellowed "look mum a kingfisher" at which point it promptly took off in the direction of Dunwich and dissapeared out of site over the reeds.

Ash

 

[Andy Thatcher]

As with several of those before me I blame genetics !

My earliest memory is of walking through a reserve in Germany called the Kuhkopf and looking at a rotten tree that had a Middle Spotted Woodpeckers nest in. I could only have been about 3 or 4 but I remember it so clearly. So well in fact that I was able to take my girlfriend to that very spot close to 25 years later. Mind you I had visited a few times in between the intervals you understand !

So that is how I became interested in birding an over active father.

I spent a lot of time in Germany while growing up and so travelling was easy so I managed to tot up quite a number of species before we returned to the UK when I was 16. Of course I lost interest from that point with only the occasional trip to Minsmere, another early memory site of standing by that caravan/cafe on the NT side watching Red Backed Shrike at about 8 or 9 with a fascination of an awful fizzy drink called Strawberry Cresta.

Apart from some ringing in my parents garden in Suffolk and the odd trip my interest had not so much disapeared as wained. OK I would make the effort every year to hear the first Nightingale and see the first Nightjar of the year. I would also be interested in any rarities that my father netted and ringed, ringing a few myself, but I was not exactly keen.

That brings us to the early 90's when after a spell of unemployment it became obvious that I would have to move to find work so took advantage of my girlfriends Uni lodgings and moved to Hertfordshire. Found a job in fairly short order and all was going well. She whom should be graduated and found a job locally and low and behold we were semi respectable living in Luton with spare cash and the topic of holidays came up.

After a trip to the travel agent, well it was the early 90's, a week in Cyprus was booked up. A trip home to Suffolk had my Dad asking me what I expected to see there and we started to look through various books and all that old excitment came crashing back at the thought of those new species I could see ! I was literally drooling by the time we landed at Larnaca and was leaping around half hour later as I had my bins on my first Cyprus Pied Wheatear.

My trouble is those early years spent abroad where new species where just around the corner so even now I find it hard to get exited about UK birding but put me on a plane to somewhere I can see new tweeties and I am in the zone ! I won't claim to be the best by far as I miss probably far more than I see but the raw excitement always get's to me.

As I have said in another thread this year promises to be interesting as I have been challenged by the aforementioned father to a bird race but only including UK birds and you know what much to my surprise Iam looking forward to it !

 

[Reader]

Andy

I have to agree with a lot of what you have said. I must admit to thouroughly enjoying wherever I go in Britain but put me on a plane to Europe and, like you, I am high on expectations. It's a feeling I hope I never lose.

 

[WelshFalcon]

I got started birdwatching, and having an interest in nature as a child. I was born and brought up on a farm in west Wales, and spent much of my childhood walking the fields, often with my father who knew so much about nature and used to pass a lot of information on to me.

I started watching the birds and animals around the farm, and by the age of about 10, I know I had found dozens of nests, and used to watch the parents coming back and forth to feed the youngsters. I’d get up at 5 am to go walking to see badgers and foxes, as well as the varying birdlife in all parts of the farm. I was later given bird books as Christmas presents by relatives (which I still have), and never stopped watching.

My interest was re-kindled about 4 years ago, as an escape from work and home life. Not only the solitude of the countryside, but also, the camaraderie of meeting other birders, and exchanging information etc.

When I now watch birds with my father, he accepts he has little knowledge, but it was his overall interest in nature which set me on my way, and has given me so much pleasure and helped make new friends.

I am not a “twitcher”, and my friends have strict instructions to shoot me if I ever show signs of becoming one! I just wanted to make that clear!

 

[Beverlybaynes]

Well, could an American break into this thread? It's been fascinating reading -- and I'm envious of all the walks you all have taken through the English and Scottish countrysides. I hope to do that myself before I die.

I live in a city of (now) 220,000, which is known for its 3 rivers. The St. Mary and the St. Joseph meet in the middle of town to form the (no, not the Jesus river) Maumee, which flows eastward to Lake Erie.

The summer of '92 was a difficult one for me, for a variety of reasons, and I had taken to leaving work to eat my lunch alongside the St. Joe riverside about a half-mile away. One day, I noticed a large bird fishing along the shore, across the river (along the campus of a local university). I happened to have of cheapo binos in the car (I had been to a concert the night before, with seats far from the stage), and watched this fellow hunt for his lunch. He left hungry; I didn't.

I had no idea what this bird was, so right after work, I drove to a nearby shopping center to a bird store and purchased my first field guide -- an Aubudon guide to birds in the eastern US. It was a Great Blue Heron. And I snagged two in one day, because a flying GBH is Audubon's logo and appears on the cover of the guide.

I started watching for birds over my lunch hour regularly, then started looking around at local parks, and so forth. And the rest is history.

In a way, the Great Blue Heron is a kind of totem for me, in that they keep appearing my life in rather significant ways. I'm also trained as a bird rescue volunteer, and the very first time I went (with someone else, thank goodness) on a rescue, it was for a Great Blue Heron. He had been hit by a van (the driver called us to report it), and it was several hours before we could locate the bird and rescue him.

He was terribly injured, and didn't survive. He died in my arms, as we drove to our facility in hopes of treating him. But the opportunity of being that close to such a magnificent bird, in spite of the sad circumstances, was truly thrilling.

My favorite sighting of GBHs came this past summer. I try to go birding whenever I can at a national wildlife refuge in southern Indiana, and there is a well-established herony there. I was on the refuge very early one morning this last July, and as I stopped along one marsh, I could see 17 of them in one bino view alone, with no scanning. Immatures and adults, all hunting for breakfast -- with several Great Egrets mixed in for good measure.

I love all birds, but those Great Blue Herons are very special!

 

[Reader]

That was a most enjoyable read Beverley. It is surprising what gets you going but at least you chose a beautiful bird as your starting point.

hope you can come over here. I am certain that there would be a few of us that could help you out with advice and maybe a meeting as well.

 

[Beverlybaynes]

John, if only I had been into birds in 1986 and 1987!

I have been fortunate enough to visit London (and I know that's not 'England') twice. In 1986 I arrived the day before the great hurricane in October (boy, did that mess up my itinerary!), then returned the next October for a second visit, this time with a friend.

The only time I have been outside of London was a short day trip out to Salisbury and Stonehenge.

The only birds I remember seeing, on either trip, were all the ducks on the lake in St. James's Park.

You can be sure I will find a way to stroll country lanes and see birds, if I'm ever lucky enough to return (and I want to, oh, how I want to!).

 

[Gaye Horn]

Beverly that was such a good read and I suspect that sitting by the river in that year .. you found something outside what was on your plate and that is what got you to today... I am so pleased to read that and to know the herons are a special bird for you. I love seeing them and have never been terribly lucky in getting too close but they are a magical species...

 

[Andy Thatcher]

Nice post.

Strange how we latch on to different species to represent parts of our lives or memories. I suspect you are far from being alone in that Beverly, well know as I have done so as well.

 

[Regan]

I started as an angler then realised that the fishing was getting in the way of what I enjoyed most, the birdwatching. However I am still a member of the Anglers Conservation Society ( incorporating the Pure Rivers Society). They have their own lawyers who actively prosecute companies and individuals who pollute the waterways. For a tenner a year I believe they are good value.

 

[janie_may]

My dear father watched and fed the birds all of his life but it didn't "take" with me until a friend gave me a seed scooper and a book, "Common Birds of Atlanta" five years ago as a Christmas gift. I tell her often now that she should share in my expenses of nine feeders, good bird seed, squirrel baffles, bluebird houses, raccoon baffles, and mealworms for the bluebirds. I've learned much about bird behavior and enjoy watching them each and every day. I have been given all of my fathers bird books and it's wonderful to read his notes (I have also made notes in my own books without knowing that he did the same) and to see how many of the same birds we identified. Because I live in a different state now (Georgia, but grew up in Tennessee) we each have a few that the other did not. Though my father has been gone for 24 years, our love for our feathered friends keeps us "close" every day.

 

[birdman]

D'ya know,

I've read thorugh this thread (well most of it, it is a long one!) and it's made me think back to what started me out.

And d'ya know what?

I don't know!

It's just something I've always more or less done.

I have a few vague recollections of a regular "cuckoo" in our garden as a child, and when I was doing the old paper round/route, I started to collect the Orbis Birds of the World Weekly (anyone else remember those - wish I'd kept them).

But what thing that started it off...? Maybe it's just in my bones.

 

[Tammie]

My grandmother was a bird watcher. She was disabled by diabetes and couldn't get out to go looking but had them come to her instead. She had feeders set up at her dining room window and she would sit there for hours watching them. I got curious about birds after listening to people in my family talking about how happy my grandmother was when she watched them.
Then, I came here and found the whiskey jacks. Well, who wouldn't get into it with birds coming at you trying to land on you! Now, I'll never go without feeders.

 

[kingfisher]

I turned 40 in December (all say ahhhh !!!) and i was telling my girlfriend how i became interested in birds all those years ago, when i was still just a young lad growing up on the Wirral, Merseyside, i found myself walking along the shoreline of the River Dee as part of a school outing just before the Christmas holidays, and i became interested in the strange sounds coming from the far off shoreline, there i could just make out different shapes and sizes of the birds, when we arrived at the field centre at Thurstaston, i got talking to one of the rangers, and there he introduced to Curlews, Redshanks and Dunlin from that moment my eyes were wide open, that Christmas i got my first bird book, which was the Observers book of Birds, that little book went everwere with me and i still have it now, i then spent many hours watching sea birds at New Brighton and feeding the birds in our garden and even rescuing an injured House Sparrow and nursing it back to health, since then i have lived in London Devon and now here in Somerset, and my passion for our feathered friends and all wildlife is burning so strong, and i am always trying to encourage youngsters to get hooked, at some point over the next 6 weeks i am taking my girlfriend back home to were it all started a chance to go back to my youth and enjoy the sights and sounds of the River Dee.

Hope that did not bore you all too much.

John

 

[Reader]

I have been to that area many times. If you are going to that area may I recommend Seaforth docks as well. You have to pay to go in (it was 50p the last time I went) but you can get superb close up views of waders, gulls all sorts of birds.

And no, you certainly didn't bore me.

 

[Yve_M]

I started birding some 20 years ago when I moved out of the city into a small rural town. Meadow larks singing, Mourning Doves cooing, the sight of tiny little Burrowing Owls along the roadside doing their bouncing dance and ducking into their dens and counting 13 Snowy Owls one morning on my way to work clinched it. Every morning was pure anticipation of finding some new sighting to add to my list. My next door neighbours were a retired couple who taught me much about gardening for the birds and kept me up to date on the latest feathered visitor.

 

[Tammie]

Eve!
Burrowing owls and 13 snowies in one day?? Oh, if I saw that, I would never leave the area! I've only ever glimpsed 2 snowies in my life and have never been anywhere where there are burrowing owls. They are the coolest things! You're lucky to live where you can see them.

 

[marcus]

Well for me, it was when I about 9 years old and saw a male Scarlet Tanager in the Bronx, New York. I went to the public library to see if I could find out what it was. Certainly in New York City the only birds I would expect to see would be Rock Doves, House Sparrows and there would be some American Robins and Blue Jays.
I found the classic field guide, A FIELD GUIDE TO THE BIRDS, and saw that there are a lot of different birds in this country. I wanted to see some, and that's when I suppose I became a birder, even though back then, about 1970, I would say birdwatcher.

 

[robhope]

I was about 11 and had been taken to Pagham Harbout LNR (West Sussex) with my father for a bird walk with Bognor Regis Natural History Society! After a long walk, and having seen for the first time all the usual estuarine suspects, we were greeted in the car park by the sight of a female Hen Harrier soaring above the Visitor Centre. (Well so the walk leader told us anyway). I now always think that something special is just around the corner.


Is there anything worse than a rainy Sunday?

___________________

Rob

 

[Reader]

<Is there anything worse than a rainy Sunday? >

Yeah - raining Saturday & Sunday: lol