I have been reading a lot on the forum about birdwatchers and birders. Got me to thinking, what I’m I. I guess I would start with this. If you asked me this week I would say I’m a Birder. If you asked me two weeks ago I would have said birdwatcher. So what is the different to me?
To me a Birdwatcher, which I was for almost 40 years, is a person how enjoys watching bird. A birdwatcher might leave the binocular home for a long hike because they are too heavy. They wouldn’t think of spending more than $100 on a pair of binos. A scope, why would a birdwatcher need a scope? A birdwatcher would never get up at 5am and drive 50+ miles to see a Snow Bunting. Now listen, I’m not trying to disrespecting birdwatcher. I loved being a birdwatcher and still would be if it wasn’t for that Snow Bunting. So I believe all birder, twitches, and ornithologists started out as birdwatcher.
Now I will explain why I think I’m a Birder, a novice birder. About 3 weeks ago I begin to take the steps necessary to become a birder. First I joined a local yahoo group called SDbirds. This group of expert birders sends out reports hourly on bird sighting. One report was of the 500th bird species found in SD. This excited me, but I lacked the equipment, sure I had binos, some cheap hand me downs used at sporting event so I found this site, the Bird forum and began researching binoculars. I found a pair I could afford. Bushnell’s excursions, I bought them at a local bird store that allowed me to try them out side by side with more expensive binoculars. I also bought 3 more guide books and a few check list. I immediately went to a lagoon down the street and eyed my first bird with the new binos, a great blue heron. So I’m studying the guide books, “Kenn Kaufman’s advanced Birding” and “The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong” to learn more about how to ID birds. I started a blog, a journal to take notes and draw birds. I will be traveling for 2 weeks in June to see Birds in Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
These activities I believe make me a birder. Now my job is to sustain the drive to learn and to share this knowledge by getting involved in local counts and clubs.
To me a Birdwatcher, which I was for almost 40 years, is a person how enjoys watching bird. A birdwatcher might leave the binocular home for a long hike because they are too heavy. They wouldn’t think of spending more than $100 on a pair of binos. A scope, why would a birdwatcher need a scope? A birdwatcher would never get up at 5am and drive 50+ miles to see a Snow Bunting. Now listen, I’m not trying to disrespecting birdwatcher. I loved being a birdwatcher and still would be if it wasn’t for that Snow Bunting. So I believe all birder, twitches, and ornithologists started out as birdwatcher.
Now I will explain why I think I’m a Birder, a novice birder. About 3 weeks ago I begin to take the steps necessary to become a birder. First I joined a local yahoo group called SDbirds. This group of expert birders sends out reports hourly on bird sighting. One report was of the 500th bird species found in SD. This excited me, but I lacked the equipment, sure I had binos, some cheap hand me downs used at sporting event so I found this site, the Bird forum and began researching binoculars. I found a pair I could afford. Bushnell’s excursions, I bought them at a local bird store that allowed me to try them out side by side with more expensive binoculars. I also bought 3 more guide books and a few check list. I immediately went to a lagoon down the street and eyed my first bird with the new binos, a great blue heron. So I’m studying the guide books, “Kenn Kaufman’s advanced Birding” and “The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong” to learn more about how to ID birds. I started a blog, a journal to take notes and draw birds. I will be traveling for 2 weeks in June to see Birds in Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
These activities I believe make me a birder. Now my job is to sustain the drive to learn and to share this knowledge by getting involved in local counts and clubs.
