Some really interesting responses here - Kits I wondered about the ratio of members to - the female members certainly seem less vocal on the rare bird forums and the identification forum - is it for fear of being embarrassed by making mistakes and worse being ‘shown’ up by another contributor because of it - I’m certain the male contributors have that fear too but maybe there’s another element at play that makes it tougher for female members to contribute so much? Isn’t it about respect at the end of the day?
Julie, I too don’t think ‘safety’ is a big factor either - it certainly isnt for me, either in the UK or abroad - my only fear is having my scope or bins grabbed from me - but the more isolated areas I’ve birded over the years, ie up mountains and forests on my own, the less likely I felt that to be a concern - like you, I’m more worried walking home from work with my bins round my neck and having those ‘mugged’ off me by some of the more colourful teenage elements in town.
I do feel that there are some individuals (including women!) who hold a few presumptions about female birders (yes there are good numbers of female scientists/ornithologists but they are often also excellent birders )- guys many of us do have an ‘interest in field birding’, are pretty ‘hardcore’ in terms of hours spent in the field and locations birded, as well as having deep and broader ornithological interests as a whole.
As regards ‘mentoring’, this is not a patronising position that females somehow ‘need looking after’ , I know from all my other experiences in life, there is always something you can learn from someone with more or simply different experiences and this is equally true of male birders as it is for females. In fact, I am daily humbled by the experience and scientific knowledge of some of those around me. It’s just harder for females birders I think to find niche in hardcore birding circles as at the end of the day, for most men, birding is a pursuit that allows them some ‘alone’ time with their male mates away from the responsibilities of work and family.
I do think there is a paucity of female listers or twitchers (I dont bother anymore) and may be that’s another aspect linked to instinctive gender differences in the approach where ‘process’ has a greater benefit than ‘result’ - although for me, it’s not enough just to get out and ‘enjoy’ a days birding, I also need the ‘result’! (but perhaps it’s just that women on the whole aren’t such anoraks
).
The presumption that females aren’t such prolific birders because of their greater invisibility however is disingenuous to those of us who do work the patch constantly and do approach birding on a continual learning curve.
