Your Birding Style (2 Viewers)

[christineredgate]

Mostly alone 99% of the time.I do prefer to be able to concentrate,sit and wait for the bird,without having with me who wants to move on to the next area.-Also they would need to have a speedy motorised trike to keep up with me!!!!LOL.
Having said that,I do like to meet up with people occassionally and have a chat,and learn form the experiences of others.
I always look forward to our BF meets at Leighton Moss.

 

[sherlock]

I answered "with a friend" - my wife

reasons -

She carries my tripod and a zoom camera

Another pair of eyes to look around including if I`m looking through a scope

She is witty, enthusiastic and quite pretty to look at too

 

[deboo]

My birding style? - "forest casual, for the leafy gent"

 

[Larry Lade]

My birding style? - "forest casual, for the leafy gent"

Perhaps I should create another "poll"!
Something along the lines of ...

1. Casual
2. Interested
3. Serious
4. Dedicated
5. Advanced
6. Hard Core
7. Expert
8. Obsessed

 

[borealowl47]

Perhaps I should create another "poll"!
Something along the lines of ...

1. Casual
2. Interested
3. Serious
4. Dedicated
5. Advanced
6. Hard Core
7. Expert
8. Obsessed

Winter-casual/Summer-for sure not 3/5/or7, dedicated sometimes

 

[wildnature]

My preference would be with a friend, however my friends only vaguely acknowledge birds :-C other than in a zoo or birdcage! :-O
Therefore, I'm always wandering alone, camera in hand. And just too shy to join any local bird groups.|:$|
However, if I was ever fortunate enough to travel to another country, I would more than likely go with a guide, just out of fear of getting lost! :eek!:

As for the other poll, I'd have to go with 8, it definitely gets to be an obsession at times!!! 8-P

 

[Lisa W]

I would prefer alone, but in my area of the US that can cause problems.

 

[Di Stone]

I also tend to bird mostly on my own as the other half has no interest whatsoever |=@|, but I've been very lucky that this wonderful hobby has let me make some wonderful friends whom I can then walk with should we meet up anywhere.

 

[DMKSlater]

I put alone as for me it is a time to de-stress, closely followed by birding with girlfriend however (takes a deep breath......) I take guided tours as well (awaits incoming ) and the feeling of satisfaction I get when my clients connect with a bird or have a nice walk doing general birding is a real high. And to date ALL my customers have been absolutely superb characters and keep in touch after they have returned home.

Thats the beauty of birding, so many ways and levels you can be involved.

Good birding to you all!

Dave

 

[Larry Lade]

I do most of my birding alone, but ...

Sometimes my wife and I go birding, but after an hour or so she is usually ready to "call it a day".
At other times I bird with my best friend, sometimes several friends, sometimes I take a person around to show them my birding venues, and sometimes I take several people to my birding areas. At other times I bird with larger groups of 10 -15 or so people of varying birding skills.

Last year I agreed to take a "small" group from Kansas City, Missouri, around the oxbows lakes, south of Saint Joseph, MO. I was surprised to find that there were about 40 people who showed up for the "tour"! I had a few misgivings about so large a group, but it all worked out pretty well.

I have not hired an expert/guide for a birding excursion, but I have gone on birding tours with organized groups. Most noteable of these being to Costa Rica, Kenya and Ecuador (these were all done with Elderhostel). (* This organization does all kinds of international tours. I have just done some of the birding ones.) The international tours have leaders/drivers/guides, etc. Most of the personnel, I have found, were quite good at their jobs. I only encountered one guide who was really not up to par. It appeared to me that he would have rather been somewhere else than where he was, leading the group. Sometimes we would go a half a day and not even know where he was or what he was doing.

So, for me, all of the above have something to offer! I suppose it does come down to an individual's preference as to how one wants to pursue their birding interests, and what opportunities are currently available to them.

 

[wildlifelove]

Alone. as i think you focus better!

 

[skylark25]

i prefer birding alone...as it is when am alone that i have full concentration on finding birds with the least distractions present of talking etc

BUT I love birding with my friends too. We are a small group of 4 and sometimes we meet together and go to our favorite sites. Yes we talk more, but 4 pairs of eyes are better then 1

Also the fact that one of the most rewarding things in birdwatching i believe is the exchange of information and experience with each other!

 

[wolfbirder]

I enjoy birding alone as you can do exactly what you want - move on when you want to etc. But it makes travel very expensive! I am sure I would see mor eif I went in a small group, and it is really nice to bump into people and bird in their company. I just like to see how I feel on the day before I go out, sometimes delaying a trip for a day or two. Especially as long distance driving can be involved for a long run to the east coast.

I try to avoid guides, but realistically someone like me who has not got the lifetsyle, time, birding skills, personality and character of someone like Jos to tour around parts of the world on foot, a guide can be brilliant on occasion - I have had a great morning on Coto Donana with Jose Sanchez, and two wonderful owl trips with Finnature. But I would prefer to do these trips by my self but I would have had no chance of finding the speciality birds in the time I had. Pete Jones is another great tour guide in Ronda, Spain, and Steven Fletcher seems to be another great one in Spain, as well as Jose at Boletas close to the Pyrenees - all of whom kindly provided me with detailed information even though I did not tour with them. I suppose it boils down to whether you have three weeks to try to find birds yourself, or whether you have far more limited time like me and need to maximise it. Tour guides can indeed take you literally too the birds you want to see on most occasions, but is that much different to maximising information via rare birds alerts services? Probably not half as satisfying in 'some' ways, but I would still maintain that being taken to see Great Grey Owl in Finland is undoubtedly on par with my best ever birding moments!

 

[Matt Prince]

Depends on the circumstances, all of the above are good at times. Most of the time I bird with the wife (still a friend fortunately...), a lot of my overseas trips are with small groups, and the occasional expert, and I don't stop birding when I'm on my own.. All good!

 

[Adam69]

Always on my own part of the attraction for me is the peace and tranqulity of being on my own with the birds and wildlife, and of course I have no friends!!

 

[merryslug]

Usually alone, mostly because not a lot of people want to wait while I take a billion pictures.

 

[wildlifelove]

Usually alone, mostly because not a lot of people want to wait while I take a billion pictures.

VERY TRUE!!

 

[lesricky]

I go out with my wife 85% of the time, the rest on my own.

 

[Andy Thatcher]

Apart from when my father flies over once a year for a fortnight I go alone.

Have used guides but only to get specific tricky local birds on trips to Africa etc. Very long way to go to miss a bird for the sake of a few hours spent with a guide.

 

[ilikecrestedtits]

there should be one more option - birding in love