British Birders Association? (1 Viewer)

In Dave Cromacks editorial about bird clubs in Decembers Birdwatching he also mentions the American Birders Association & whether we should have our own British Birders Association


If I set one up this is what my rules would be.

You have to be & prove to be an active birder, keeping detailed notes & be prepared to submit records on a monthly basis to a series of county recorders who would automatically be honory members.

National & or local branch meetings could be held & National or local Field meetings could also be held.

There would be an annual report published at the end of the year too.

This would leave the Pretty picture brigade & fund raising folk to all the other groups leaving a proper serious association to get on with observing birds.

:clap:

Tin hat's ready to go on.

You have to be & prove to be an active birder

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How exactly? Whats that judged on - number of birding days per year? Length of List?

Smacks of elitism to me.....

and me ....

BUT is that the idea? Will folks have to prove they are a good birder etc etc (seems to be my hobby horse of the day!)

sorry Colin

Yes. Keep a notebook , be seen around your local patch & recognise & correctly identify a selection of birds.

Come on can't you see it is my way of getting a discussion going here?

It is all theoretical just some ideas to discuss on the forum I am not trying to be elitist.

Tell me how you would set up the British Birders association

colin j said:

Yes. Keep a notebook , be seen around your local patch & recognise & correctly identify a selection of birds.

Come on can't you see it is my way of getting a discussion going here?

It is all theoretical just some ideas to discuss on the forum I am not trying to be elitist.

Tell me how you would set up the British Birders association

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You could start by saying why one is needed.

Why the need for proof of being a birder, good are bad, we all have different levels of our hobby!!!
and still enjoy.

One is neede to stop stringy reports sent in. Police the Birdes code of conduct. Get birders to be more proactive by getting even more records sent in.

Organise branches where proper birding issues can be discussed.
& whatever anyone else wants to add.

CJ

Why is it always left to me to disagree with people? I`ll end up being disliked in every corner if i`m not careful!

Still why change the habit of a lifetime

You have to be & prove to be an active birder

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Not sure how you`d get people to prove they are an active birder - surely anyone that goes birding even semi-regularly is an active birder! Whose standards would we judge entry on? Would I get in? Would you?

keeping detailed notes & be prepared to submit records on a monthly basis to a series of county recorders

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Why? I do keep notes, but it shouldn`t be compulsary - should be down to individuals likes and dislikes - why would submitting to a county recorder be compulsary, we`ve debated this one already and i`ve been the only dissenting view, but the truth is many, many observers don`t submit records for various reasons - effort, personal animosity, scepticism they`ll be treated equally etc - if you`re just "bolting on" to the existing county recorders structure you`ll have no control over what happens to the data when its been submitted - what if you live in a county where the recording structure is very poor (I know Lincolnshire hasn`t produced a report in years!)

This would leave the Pretty picture brigade & fund raising folk

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Do you mean digiscopers here - I think thats got to be one of the biggest developments in birding for years! If you excluded them what pictures would you put on your website or Annual Report? As for fundraisers - how exactly would you fund the infrastructure of the BBA?

Yes. Keep a notebook , be seen around your local patch.

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Seems overly prejudiced in terms of one particular kind of birdwatcher - would really be so keen to exclude everyone who didn`t regularly patchwatch? What about Photographers, Twitchers, World Birders? There are as many ways of enjoying this hobby as there are individuals, why try to force people into one particular mode?

recognise & correctly identify a selection of birds

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What selection? Just how good would you have to be to get in? Am I okay if I can tell Robin & Dunnock apart or do I have to be able to seperate female Pied and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear? What if i`m only interested in Raptors or seawatching and have little knowledge outside my chosen field?

stop stringy reports sent in

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Suprisingly enough the problem with records is not stringy records - very few dodgy reports get accepted, the real problems are with descriptions not being sent in - and that is a product of the time it takes for decisions to be made and some of the guidelines/decisions that stand in place by the BBRC/BOU

Get birders to be more proactive by getting even more records sent in

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If you use the existing county recorder/BBRC infrastructure how can you encourage more people to send records in when you have no control or input over what happens - topic for another thread, but i can think of plenty of ways that would encourage people to submit their records (maybe even me!)

You'll always be popular with this contributor, Jason. I've always enjoyed your comments and generally agree with everything you say, as in this case.
Some people just want everything in nice little organised/labelled compartments.
Sorry Colin, this is not one of your better suggestions.

colin j said:

This would leave the Pretty picture brigade & fund raising folk to all the other groups leaving a proper serious association to get on with observing birds.

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To what end?

What would the Association perform as a usefull function that no other charity, association or group already performs?

It seems you may bee looking for a very narrow group, with very narrow exclusive membership criteria and a very narrow remit. My guess would be that you would end up with a very small membership, what purpose would this serve?

In Scotland we already have such an organisation, the SOC. Its open to everyone interested in birds, it produces the Scottish Bird Report and orgainses recording in Scotland. I, therefore, do not see the need to impose a new structure on top of that. Maybe what you need is an English Birders Association, a thing I have heard suggested before more as an association of bird clubs.

CJW said:

Some people just want everything in nice little organised/labelled compartments.
Sorry Colin, this is not one of your better suggestions.

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Hi CJ,

You don't honestly think Colin's being serious here ?!?

It all looks extremely tongue-in-cheek to me . . . a definite wind-up

Michael

Isn't there already an association of bird clubs, i.e. the BTO / Bird Clubs Partnership.

In the copy of BTO Network News I received this morning the list of members appears to include c120 bird clubs and 6 SOC branches.

Stephen.

One becomes a member of the American Birding Association (ABA) by sending in your $40

You then receive the "Birding" magazine (one issue every other month) and "Winging It", a monthly newletter. You do not have to meet certain requirements to become a member. All levels of birders are members. In my opinion, most of the people who subscribe to the ABA are people who are "reallly into birding" (I guess you would say they tend to be "avid birders"). Sometimes the articles in "Birding" are quite technical and a "bit much" for novice or intermediate type birders (and maybe also for advanced type birders). I suppose by being a member of the ABA it does show that one is serious about his hobby of bird watching. I do acknowledge that a person can be a serious bird watcher without being a member of the ABA. It just seems to me that most of the "top notch" birders (not all) that I am acquainted with in this country are members of the ABA.

The ABA, among other things, prints a directory of all their members. So whenever you travel to anywhere in the world you can see if there are some members where you are going. Some will correspond with you and even go with you looking for birds in there "neck of the woods". ABA also publishes a directory of volunteer opportunites in avian research activites which members are encouraged to participate in.

I enjoy their publications and am pleased to be a member of the ABA.

Larry