Twitchers And Twitches (1 Viewer)

[fatbirder]

I agree with the sentiment that anyone who birds like a trainspotter - just collecting numbers or new "ticks" is to be pittyied and not emulated I feel he is branding all twitchers with the one small and narrow brush.

Almost all birders love to see something new. Almost all birders are prepared to travel to see something new - whether it be by helicopter or bus. This makes nearly all birders as, at some time, and to some extent, twitchers.

I used to twitch all over the country. I go, whenever I can get the monet together, to other parts of the world and watch birds. I will travel to anywhere in my county to see a new bird, or even one I have never seen in that county. But mostly I go to my little semi urban corner and wotk my Patch. I get a huge amount of joy seeing a bird there that I have never had on the patch before... whether or not I've seen one millions of times before. I had a buzzard the other day - about the fourth ever on the patch and it made it a red letter day.

But I also take joy in nearly every bird I see (I cannot get hot for feral pigeons and am not turned on by gulls on rubbish tips) .

I spend a few hours or a day birding and sit for hours watching the same waders or whatever as I like watching birds.

So - please do not judge part of our pastime by its most extreme exponents... they would be the sados of whatever pastime they chose to take part in.

bo

 

[pigsonthewing]

I go, whenever I can get the monet together, to other parts of the world and watch birds

I think selling works of art, just to go birding, is a bit extreme...

 

[winkle]

Have worked on a Reserve, the thing that used to give us the hump about twitchers was that we were the last to know about the bird. The finder phones his mates and Birdline and does not feel he should actually tell the landowner.

It was not the desire to see the bird, but the influx of twitchers asking where is the so & so, and not knowing anything about or chance to make any plans to accomodate a large number of extra visitors if it was a big twitch.

Always have a little chuckle when twitchers whinge about supression. They only have their own lack of manners to blame.

 

[HH75]

"One is for a person who travels a long way to see a rare bird and does his/her homework beforehand. They would be able to id the bird if noone else was around (unlikely) or if they saw the bird first while waiting for the bird to show. They then spend time enjoying the bird, learning from the field experience (as opposed to reading a book), note what the bird is doing, the habitat its in, its mannerisms, in short taking a whole view of the bird and its situation and maybe even photographing it. "
That would apply to me.Over here there are so few birders on the ground that even a mega-rarity may attract a handful of observers after the first day of its stay.I remember going up for the Short-billed Dowitcher in March 2000(Co.Meath),and there only being one other birder there!I had to locate the bird myself,and we then watched it for over 1/2 an hour.
"any 'manics' on this forum would even now be driving like mad to Oban for a Forster's Tern"
Don't "need" it,have seen 2 already....;-)
Seriously,I like seeing rare birds even if I've seen them before,the only difference is that I wouldn't travel as far for subsequent sightings as I would for the first one!
I also enjoy working a few local areas on spec:Old Head of Kinsale for seabirds and passerines,Ballycotton for waders and any decent harbour/sewage outfall for gulls.The thrill of finding a "mega" is something else,even if you've already seen the species(found Ireland's 2nd Red-necked Stint last year,but had successfully twitched the 1st one)
On top of all that I do survey work(mostly looking for breeding raptors),submit sightings of colour-ringed birds,study variation in commoner birds etc.,also enjoy watching certain common birds(Kingfishers,all raptors,many waders,most warblers etc.)
Harry

 

[peter hayes]

Winkle

Nice to have you with us on BF. Faversham's not far - perhaps we'll meet up sometime.

Which reserve did you work on?

Look forward to hearing from yoyu.

 

[winkle]

Peter,

Used to work at Oare Marshes and have worked on many others in Kent.

 

[peter hayes]

Excellent. A KentBash is a certainty at some time in the future then!

 

[Sal]

Excellent post regarding twitching WelshFalcon. I don't regard myself as a twitcher (although I have been called such) even though I keep a life list and even though I keep a list of every bird seen on each trip I make whether it is a day trip or longer. I do this because I keep journals of my trips and I love to look back at them and to remember where I saw which birds and what they were doing. (Animals, trees, all sorts, actually!)I can sit and watch a feeding party for ages even though I may be totally familiar with every bird in it - I just enjoy watching bird behaviour. I would certainly travel to see a rare bird if it were close by - and tick it off if I see it -but, like you, if it is far away other things take precedence. There are many people in South Africa who have life lists and many who travel to other countries to add to their list, but every birder I have ever met gets more from their sighting than just a tick. I have only ever 'heard' of, not met, this strange breed of twitcher that only needs a bird once and then loses interest - I certainly would not call them birders.

 

[cjay]

Twitchers the extreme end of the hobby.
We just have to put up with them.

 

[HH75]

Hi Colin,
"Twitchers the extreme end of the hobby.
We just have to put up with them"
We're not all that bad!There are very few twitchers as bad as those that make the tabloids(walking through a Ringed Plover breeding area to get closer to a Kentish Plover,flushing an exhausted Siberian Thrush after dark by torchlight(thus denying those who arrived the next day the chance of seeing the bird,not to mention the effect it must have had on the bird) etc.)
Most "twitchers" are in fact better classed as "birders who also twitch",as they also do survey work,are involved in conservation,look for their own rare birds,sketch birds,take photos/video footage,write articles and papers on birds etc.
Many would never forget that the welfare of the bird is paramount:after all,you can't tick a corpse.....;-)
Harry

 

[Stringer]

twitching is that bad? So how many do you have on your lifelists then? And recently, how many lifers have you found yourself?
Respect

The Stringer (394)

 

[digi-birder]

I confess - I twitched again today. A Richard's Pipit about 10 minutes drive from work. A first for me. Couldn't really miss that chance - could I?

Diane.

 

[HH75]

Hi "Stringer",
My Irish list is 284(please take into account that we have fewer breeding and wintering species here,many regular scarce migrants in the UK are megas here and also fewer birders=fewer rarities being found.300 is seen as being a good list here(like 400+ in the UK),with our top lister having a list of just under 380)
I have found the following rarities:
Red-necked Stint adult summer Ballycotton 31st July 2002(not a tick,twitched the bird in 98)Second Irish record
Alpine Swift 5 Cork city centre 24th March 2002(Irish tick)
Hawfinch Female Curragh Chase 13th Feb 2002(rare here,but may be regular at this site?First Irish record for 2 years,up to 4 seen subsequently.Irish tick)
RB Fly 1st-w Old Head of Kinsale 5th Oct 2001(not a tick)
Common Rosefinch juv.Old Head 1st Sep 2001(not a tick)
Buff-B Sand juv Ballycotton mid Sep 2000(a tick)
and was involved in finding a juv.Baird's Sand at Ballycotton in Sep.98
Have also found a few "Yellow-legged Gulls" when they were treated as rarities here,plus a "Scandinavian Jackdaw",not to mention stuff like Lesser throat,RB Gulls(many),Osprey,Marsh Harrier(x2),Hobby etc.
Was one of 4 observers who assigned the Woodchat Shrike at Mizen Head on 3rd June 2002 to the race badius(1st Irish record):also co-wrote an article on this for Birding World.
Have seen a few nice rarities also:Brown and Isabelline Shrikes,Bufflehead(a wild bird!),Eastern Olivaceous and Radde's Warblers,Blue-winged Warbler,Baltimore Oriole,Gyr,Western Sand,SB Dowitcher,Ivory Gull,Ross' Gull(x2),REV,Serin(a mega here),Woodlark(as for Serin),GS Cuckoo etc.
Over to you..................
Harry

 

[Stringer]

the point is....how many of those birds would you have seen anyway/found yourself?
Twitchers, twitching, birding world, and birdline have improved my enjoyment and knowledge base no end.....although I still cant identify distant skuas, silent pipits, and ofcourse Scottish Crossbill!

 

[HH75]

Hi "Stringer",
Obviously,I identified my finds myself!;-)
As for the rarities that have come my way,well I may have found the Brown Shrike difficult if I had found it(though in retrospect it was quite distinctive,and I'd have known that it wasn't a Red-backed)
The Eastern Olly may have been a tough call between E.O.and Sykes',but based on the tail-dipping etc. I'd have gone for the correct ID on that one,I think.
I would have known that the Blue-winged was a Yank warbler,but would have had to look it up in an American field guide,as the species hadn't been recorded in the WP!!
The SB Dow would have been left as "dowitcher sp.,poss.SB",as I didn't hear it call!(it was a 1st-w).Nevertheless,the plumage features suggested Short-billed.
The rest of the rarities that I mentioned would have been OK.
Have problems with small silent pipits as well(though I imagine that Olive-backed would stand out),also "orange-billed" terns,1st-w large gulls(at times),distant shearwaters(anything over 3/4 distance),unstreaked Acros etc.
Presume that you saw my co-written article in BW as you get it?(July 2002).If so,I'd be interested in feedback(privately,of course);it wasn't intended to be a definitive article on badius ID!!
Harry

 

[Stringer]

are we getting off the point?
twitching is good for us all......and you are clearly a better birder than me, harry.......but im the better lover!
take care

 

[Tammie]

Could someone please tell me what you are talking about??
Twitchers and twitches??

 

[Stuart]

Twitcher's are UK birdwatcher's who chase new birds they havent seen before, no matter how far away the bird is.....when they are there, they are on a twitch!! It's called that after the nervous twitching they do, because of the desire and out right panic they have about missing a rarity

 

[Cindy M]

I see nothing at all wrong with twitching- As long as the welfare of the bird is not compromised, there is no harm in anyone wanting to 'tick' off a bird for their list. I rarely join in the 'rare bird alerts' here in my area unless the bird is relatively close to home. I like to keep birding spontaneous, although it's always fun to add a new bird to my lifelist.
My greatest pet peeve is when a bird is chased relentlessly with no thought to the impact of the chase on the bird. Whether that be for a photo or for adding to one's list, to me it's ethically wrong to take advantage of a bird that may already be stressed due to being out of it's normal range or other circumstances. I feel we must at all times be aware of our actions on not only birds, but all wildlife and habitat.

 

[nigelblake]

The origin of the word Twitching go'es back to the late fifty's when birders from London called Bob Emmett and Howard Medhurst would travel great distances on an old Matchless motorcycle, Howard traveled on the pillion seat and invariably would get frozen cold, probably due to not really being dressed for it, so when they got to the bird he would shivver uncontrolably, this resulted in Bob asking Howard, prior to a birding trip, if he was "going on a twitch" at the weekend, and so the term was coined and is now even in the Oxford English dictionary.