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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sancho" data-source="post: 1544624" data-attributes="member: 27039">It´s a source of constant intrigue to me that so many birders in the US are female. Exactly the opposite here...I can´t count on the fingers of one hand the female birders I know, but could rattle off the names of about 150 male birders (there are said to be about 400 "serious" birders in Ireland South). Typically, male birders here don´t admit to the activity after puberty kicks in, because the image of the Irish/British birder is a geeky anorak with horn-rimmed glasses and no social skills, in the same league as a Train-Spotter (I, of course, shatter this stereotype....<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" />). So the average female here would run a mile from a birding male, were he to admit to the pursuit. In the U.S., I imagine, "Birding" is out there with all the Frontier/Pioneer/Backwoods pursuits, and a Real Man is not afraid to admit to it, as it puts him in the same league as Grizzly Adams, Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett. Or maybe U.S. women reckon a birding man is good child-rearing material as he´s closer to nature and the "Wild", and possibly all sensitive and understanding to boot. Here, womenfolk might feed birds in their gardens and look at blackbirds feeding young, but they would rarely describe themselves as "birders". At the risk of being attacked with a spotting scope on my next outing, I would dare to suggest that most (of the very few) female birders here are women of...shall we say....advanced wisdom and experience.......(is there a fox-hole around here I can bunker down in?) I mean, when I was young, I knew a few other guys who birdwatched, but I was well over forty before I met any female birder.</blockquote>

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