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To twitch or not to twitch, that is the question (1 Viewer)

Jane Turner

Jane Turner

Well-known member
I spend a good part of my working life helping teams in big companies clarify their decision making processes. One of the simple tools I use is a decision matrix.

Just for fun I turned the tool onto myself and tried to dissect and rationalise the analysis process I go through when deciding to go and see a bird.

First I listed the criteria I base my decisions on, things like is it new, is it somewhere I like. etc etc...6 in all. Then I gave each criteria a starting weight of 5. Then I added and subtracted votes from the criteria until I had effectively ranked them. For example I decided that where the bird was mattered a lot, so I gave it two extra votes which I took off it being new. (Something that is less important to me!)

Then I filled in scores on a simple scale, 3=high, 2=medium 1=weak 0 =none for a range of specific birds. It seems accurate. Its telling me I probably want to go and see Darrell's pipit and the Humes Warbler in Wales, have no interest in the Grimsby Robin or the Oxford Oriole and might just beg off my bum to see the Waxwing down the road.

If anyone else wants a go I'll email you the file. Just edit the values...and criteria if you have different ones!

I know... I'm very very sad!!
 

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Oh, I love this kind of stuff! (We saddos must stick together).

We use all kinds of Score Card info at work from Work Efficiency to Environmental Impact...

I just never thought of using it for birding.

I'm gonna have a go at replicating your matrix.. but if I get bogged down, expect a call!
 
I like the system - much more complex than the one I use.

My equation is (how much I want to see the bird X how many times I consider going for it in the first hour) - (the total distance to be travelled) if this comes out to high I leave it if not I'm busy working out when the first free day is.

This system stopped me going for the American robin in Cornwall - but the Grimsby bird was well in range.
 
Aren't there supposed to be Waxwings at the place where the American Robin was found? In which case you should really give it at least an extra point!
 
Hi Jane et al,
Why make life harder than it is?My system is easy to use: if I want to see the bird(whether I 'need' it or not),I make the effort to go;if I don't,then I don't travel!;)
Works for me....
Harry H
 
my dilemma is easy
can I see one in their natural habitat somewhere?
If yes, then no twitch
If no, then twitch
One exception in last 10 years was Black Lark and we did that for a laugh and to bring back memories of the good old days when a twitch entailed a damn good day (and night!) out wherever you happened to be.....no going home straight afterwards! B :)
 
Hi Tim,
'the good old days when a twitch entailed a damn good day (and night!) out wherever you happened to be.....no going home straight afterwards!'
They're always the best kind,especially if you see the bird.Two of the best nights out that I've had were in Dingle(after going for the Elegant Tern) and Cape(the Serin twitch).Happy days...!;)
Harry H
 
I remember the winspit bluetail as my last real twitch (aside from the Burghead Tatler)
was drunk when i 'woke up' from the nite before, sober for about half and hour while I saw it and then back up the hill to the pub with about 40 other birders - this bird was perhaps the end of that era as a lot of folks seemed to stop twitching after that bird.
 
As the age profile of Birding has changed away from being quite a "studenty" or "young mans" game perhaps the era of Beer Fueled twitches has faded (perhaps only lingering on on Scilly in October?) more people have family and work commitmentments that make nights away very much the minority rather than the rule.
 
Hi Jason,
Still a fair few 'young'(i.e.20-something,or early 30's) birders around,even over here.Personally,I don't drink that often,and usually save it for a social occasion such as a night on Cape Clear with a few friends: the 'craic' can be mighty down there!;)
As for family and work commitments: I am single(and plan on staying that way),and currently out of work.When I do return to the workforce,I hope to get something that I can fit my birding around!
Harry H
 
Jane - heart warming to see i`m not the only one that marooned in my office all day finds imaginative ways to use time & exel for bird rather than work related activities...

I`ve always suspected the proliferation of Exel bird recording software was driven by the fact that you can sit there at work and eveyone things you`ve got you`re head down and working hard!!!
 
Harry Hussey said:
Hi Jason,
Still a fair few 'young'(i.e.20-something,or early 30's) birders around,even over here.Personally,I don't drink that often,and usually save it for a social occasion such as a night on Cape Clear with a few friends: the 'craic' can be mighty down there!;)
As for family and work commitments: I am single(and plan on staying that way),and currently out of work.When I do return to the workforce,I hope to get something that I can fit my birding around!
Harry H
Click to expand...

I have no one to look over my shoulder and I still do it...though I was testing some methodology on a complex but well understood sytem! Honest!
 
The Winspit Bluetail did't register...but I went.. which shows me I have a term missing... do I think there will be another chance. Model improved!
 

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Hi Jason,
"Ha! Early 30 doesn`t qualify as young...believe me I should know i`m 34!!! "
That may be true,but I'm 'only' 28....;)
Harry H
 
Having spent much of my life in such business decision making processes, it seems to me that some of us just can't accept the mostly serendipitous and subjective nature of human decision making and will do all we can to give it the appearance of cool and calculated objectivity.

Ah well... sounds fun and a great way to make a living!


((-:
 
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Tim Allwood said:
I remember the winspit bluetail as my last real twitch (aside from the Burghead Tatler)
was drunk when i 'woke up' from the nite before, sober for about half and hour while I saw it and then back up the hill to the pub with about 40 other birders - this bird was perhaps the end of that era as a lot of folks seemed to stop twitching after that bird.
Click to expand...
I wonder whether the fact that the queue of people stretched back to Wiltshire put them off. OK I exaggerate, but I've heard a few older twitchers complaining that rare birds just aren't special any more because they're so "available" and that somehow devalues them. Sour grapes? I don't think so. I'm not a competitive lister at all, but I sometimes feel that today's highly organised information systems somehow steal some of the wonderment I ought to be experiencing.

Jason
 
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