How long did it take you to hit 100 on your life-list. 200? 300? ... (1 Viewer)

[Lichfield Birder]

OK here goes.
500 both dedication & time.
Halftwo

And cash!!!

 

[JoanT]

Interesting thread, this.
It took me so long to clear the easy stage of 200-300 because I simply didn't do any long-distance twitching, just local birding with the occasional county twitch. This is the crux for me - the spacing of these milestones is about when you started long-distance twitching, and how long you spent "doing your apprenticeship". You see so many fieldcraft-less dudes on twitches in the UK these days - I for one am pleased it took me so long to get to 300! Although some of the mega's missed during this time are really, really painful now...

...

Although I have always known what I have seen and not seen it would be incredibly difficult for me to work out when I saw my 200 or 300 in the UK as I just wasn't interested in numbers. I didn't even know what my Herts county list was untill about 3 years ago when someone in the county asked me! It is only in the last few years that my Herts list has decreased from around 2/3rds of my UK list which isn't bad for a land locked county.

Have been birding longer than Ben and still haven't reached 400 on UK 400 rules, though I did add over 20 last year. I would certainly agree with Ben's comment on fieldcraft less dudes on twitches as I was astounded some years ago that people looking for a Stilt Sandpiper at Minsmere couldn't id the more common UK waders that surrounded it. They were having trouble finding the Stilt Sandpiper and I was having to really point it out to them not just give rough directions. I certainly regret now not twitching some of the birds I didn't in the past such as the Lundy Ancient Murrelet which I still haven't seen worldwide. Just hope that when I do see 400 in the UK it will be a good rare one and not a scarce one that I still hadn't seen until that time in the UK

 

[Terry O'Nolley]

Your attitude is uggly.

"Garbage species" - birds guaranteed to be found eating out of landfills or running around the ground at a shopping mall looking for french fries.

In the USA, that includes Rock Doves, House Sparrows, European Starlings, Ring-billed Gulls, etc, etc.

It is followed by the "super abundant" species - like Mourning Doves, Grackles, etc, etc.

I agree that garbage birds ar uggly, but it doesn't follow that my attitude is uggly.

It took me 3 or 4 weeks to see my first 200 species. I didn't count them, i still don't.

A person that travelled a lot could tick hundreds of birds in a couple of weeks just by travelling to garbage dumps and shopping mall parking lots in different countries!

BTW - how do you know if you saw them in 3 or 4 weeks if you didn't count them.....

 

[Steven Astley]

Terry do you still only count birds seen with the naked eye

 

[Atricapilla]

It has taken me 2 years here on my local patch to reach 156,last one was a Whimbrel last week.

 

[Terry O'Nolley]

Incidentally, there seems to me to be too much emphasis put on self-finding on this forum: the talent is in knowing what you are looking at, not in happening to be where something pops up

I agree with this - just because someone says that an Xyz pdq is showing at Lake Woebegone and you arrive there and someone points to a speck on the far side of the lake and says "There it is - the Xyz pdq!" does not mean that you tick it and leave. You have to satisy yourself that you are confident enough to tick it.

 

[Terry O'Nolley]

Terry do you still only count birds seen with the naked eye

YES! I was just thinking about that weird thread a few nights ago
It might take bins to identify the bird, but if I can't at least see it with my naked eye then, to me, that is no different than walking up to a dude with a $25,000 TV broadcast-quality zoom camera with a 12" digital LED and he tells me to take a look and I look at the LED and see an image of an Ivory Billed Woodpecker that is 2 1/2 miles away. Did I "see" that bird? No. Would I tick it? No.

 

[Jacamar]

It took me over six years to get to 100, but then again I hardly watched birds at all for the first half of those six years.
It took me ten more months to get to 200 (that is when I really got serious), and then almost two more years to reach 300.
It has now been almost 3 months since I reached 300, and I am on 368. But that's what happens when you move to a new country!

 

[emupilot]

The first day I went on a birding trip, I came home with about 70.
After 4 months birding I had 100
It took 8 months to get to 200
2 years to get 300
6 years to get 400
9 years to get 500
21 years to get 600
I hope I never get to 700 in North America, as that is a symptom of insanity.

 

[claire78]

I've yet to attain 100! But then as I only seriously started watching birds a few weeks ago I'm not doing so bad at 76! 15 lifers so far this month!

 

[Gastronaut]

Incidentally, there seems to me to be too much emphasis put on self-finding on this forum: the talent is in knowing what you are looking at, not in happening to be where something pops up, and I say that having fallen over a spring Citrine Wagtail once. This particularly applies to the relentless local patchers who do nothing imaginative to find stuff, just walk the same old circuit like mice in a maze.

John

Got to disagree with you on this one. The credit/respect or whatever in birding should go to those who find and identify the birds (requires a mixture of fieldcraft, knowledge and skill), not to those who twitch them (requires a car). I'm not anti-twitching, it's a good way to improve the knowledge/skill that helps when finding/identifying birds. Trouble is there are far too many twitchers these days that are living proof that you can pass 300, or even 400 (in UK) and still be completely clucking fueless. Its far more likely you have the talent of knowing what you're looking at if you've amassed a big self-found list than a big (far bigger) twitched list. I expect whoever found the Yorkshire Pacific Diver was just walking their local patch, the imaginitive bit was when they didn't just say oh goodie a Black Throated Diver but instead noticed the differences and asked themselves what that signified.

 

[watcher]

Some of the spring birding tours we run in Bulgaria exceed 200 species seen within a week time. Come at the end of May and see for yourself.

 

[emupilot]

YES! I was just thinking about that weird thread a few nights ago
It might take bins to identify the bird, but if I can't at least see it with my naked eye then, to me, that is no different than walking up to a dude with a $25,000 TV broadcast-quality zoom camera with a 12" digital LED and he tells me to take a look and I look at the LED and see an image of an Ivory Billed Woodpecker that is 2 1/2 miles away. Did I "see" that bird? No. Would I tick it? No.

I use the same standard, but I've never had to reject a bird. The closest I came was my first Snowy Owl, which was across a frozen lake. I looked in someone else's scope to see and identify the bird and determine its location relative to landmarks. Then I looked where the bird was supposed to be with my naked eye, but I couldn't see it until I saw it stretch its wing. Then it was official.

 

[Terry O'Nolley]

I use the same standard, but I've never had to reject a bird. The closest I came was my first Snowy Owl, which was across a frozen lake. I looked in someone else's scope to see and identify the bird and determine its location relative to landmarks. Then I looked where the bird was supposed to be with my naked eye, but I couldn't see it until I saw it stretch its wing. Then it was official.

That is a perfect example! And is, basically, the limit I am talking about

 

[Farnboro John]

Got to disagree with you on this one. The credit/respect or whatever in birding should go to those who find and identify the birds (requires a mixture of fieldcraft, knowledge and skill), not to those who twitch them (requires a car). I'm not anti-twitching, it's a good way to improve the knowledge/skill that helps when finding/identifying birds. Trouble is there are far too many twitchers these days that are living proof that you can pass 300, or even 400 (in UK) and still be completely clucking fueless. Its far more likely you have the talent of knowing what you're looking at if you've amassed a big self-found list than a big (far bigger) twitched list. I expect whoever found the Yorkshire Pacific Diver was just walking their local patch, the imaginitive bit was when they didn't just say oh goodie a Black Throated Diver but instead noticed the differences and asked themselves what that signified.

Having considered your points I have to say that to some extent you are confusing cause and effect. Maybe you should re-read your own post. You are right in saying that twitching (done properly by keen birders) improves knowledge and skill. This then feeds into finding stuff (sometimes on minimal views) on the local patch. The relentless patcher who doesn't bird elsewhere never quite gets that extra honing that makes the difference. A good twitcher put down anywhere will find stuff, but a patcher out of his environment will not except by accident.

And by the way: I certainly agree the credit for the ID on the Yorkshire Pacific Diver is deserved, but respect for a person is more of a holistic thing and....I don't think so.

John

 

[Jane Turner]

Being a relentless patcher never stopped me finding rarities out of my patch. I must be lucky to have had so many accidents

Though to be fair I do twitch very very occasionally, mostly when I want to learn something, or I fancy the location.

 

[Euan Buchan]

I finished my first policemen's notebook that has all my birding drawings & notes last year and it has around 200 mebe more it started from 2002

 

[Otto McDiesel]

Some of the spring birding tours we run in Bulgaria exceed 200 species seen within a week time. Come at the end of May and see for yourself.

My personal one day record (i think) was in Dobrogea in Romania, around Histria - Grindul Chituc and around Babadag and Grindul Lupilor. I got 202 species on May 7th, 1994. I believe that was the day when i also found Sylvia cantilans, but it may have been the next year.

Just north of the Bulgarian border, in Romania at Canaraua Fetii and at Ostrov and Canlia, there are forests, hills, marshes, open water, and meadows, where over 100 species can be seen in one morning in May.

 

[Otto McDiesel]

A person that travelled a lot could tick hundreds of birds in a couple of weeks just by travelling to garbage dumps and shopping mall parking lots in different countries!

BTW - how do you know if you saw them in 3 or 4 weeks if you didn't count them.....

I didn't count, people who disdain "garbage species" did. Yes, i've birded on all continents in the last 25 years. Not too much in South America and South East Asia, though.

 

[Otto McDiesel]

A person could tick hundreds of birds

"tick" ?

what about "observe" "see" "enjoy"? Is that what this is about? Ticking a list?