JRE
Guest
How many firsts have we had this year? Is it just Olive-tree Warbler?wrexile1 said::clap: yup, its been absolutely bloody dire most of the time. Mind you, the majority of the British Isles has been.
How many firsts have we had this year? Is it just Olive-tree Warbler?wrexile1 said::clap: yup, its been absolutely bloody dire most of the time. Mind you, the majority of the British Isles has been.
The Firecrest said:How many firsts have we had this year? Is it just Olive-tree Warbler?
wrexile1 said::clap: yup, its been absolutely bloody dire most of the time. Mind you, the majority of the British Isles has been.
sylvia staffs said:Wasnt that in Ireland!!
Love Sylvia
Steven Astley said:The joys twitching. Most of your posts have been moody and despondent since about mid summer. Birding can be exciting without the need for a never ending quest for lifers or year ticks.
I've never met Firecrest, so his ID ability may very well be amazing (it's certainly apparent that he's very very keen).... but there really is virtually no correlation between a decent life list and ID ability.J Moss said:Agreed.
Firecrest, I think its astonishing that you have a life list of 284 at the age of 13. Your IDing ability must be amazing.
dbradnum said:I've never met Firecrest, so his ID ability may very well be amazing (it's certainly apparent that he's very very keen).... but there really is virtually no correlation between a decent life list and ID ability.
Give someone a pager, a decent amount of free time and money, and they could rack up 320 species in a year, without knowing anything much about what they'd been looking at...
J Moss said:I guess, with a Uk list of 179, Firecrest must be a pretty hardcore twitcher.
J Moss said:Well, my life list is 172, and I live in Norfolk, so I think thats pretty good going. Anyway, I meant that it's a good list for a 13 year old.
OK, substitute in "parents with free time and money", and the same applies.J Moss said:I agree, but how do you get "a decent amount of free time and money" at 13!
Indeed... but twitching rare birds doesn't require experience and practice, and so accumulating a big life or year list doesn't either. I'm not having a go, or trying to put anyone down, just want to question one or two illusions.J Moss said:What I'm getting at is, IDing non-native, unusual birds (esp LBJs, Warblers, etc), ought to take a lot of experience and practice.