What irrates you when birding! (1 Viewer)

[sclateria]

Obviously birding in Britain is different from most parts of the rest of the world. I think that I'd rather have to deal with loud people and the occasional pile of dog droppings than with children trying to slingshot the birds I'm seeing, or trapping them and selling them at the roadside - both of these practices are common in northeast Brazil.

In my own region, the southern Amazon basin, the dry season irritates me at times. Finally most roads are passable in a small car, but forget roadside birding thanks to the inevitable cloud of dust hanging suspended above the road. Two weeks in May and two weeks in October, that's about all we get without dust or mud.

 

[Pete Mella]

After spending the evening on the heaths watching nightjars last night, I can safely say bloody midges are topping the list. I got bitten so much I look like I've got some weird pox today!

 

[CMB]

Ticks (the arachnid not the count)

I must have had about two dozen on me after coming in from an outing the other day. Time to get some permethrin treated clothing for birding.

 

[borealowl47]

what ir....

Hi All,

Birds have their own agenda and they can FLY!:t:


Darrell

 

[Mannix]

I found something new to irritate me tonight. The RSPB put those laminated pages of the local birds in hides on chains and when kids are in there they just rattle them all the time looking for the bird they have just seen. Why oh why can't they use wire rope, it is much quieter?

 

[Robert / Seattle]

Global Warming Documentaries.

They're preaching to the choir, (we all know the enemy doesn't watch these programs), and it's a sad and inevitable song. Every time I see a gorgeous bird I find myself counting the minutes.

How did we let this happen?

 

[YellowBudgie]

Hi All,

For me it's medical issues that prevent me from walking on a trail. I bird where I can be close to the car.

See ya,

Dana

 

[totaljohn]

Probably most annoyed I have ever been was doing the Christmas Bird Count in a local state park in which hunting is permitted and discovering a Bluebird box blasted apart by a shotgun.

Still can't get my mind all the way around that one.

Mike

its a case of, saying "hang on, this is a state park and we are here to survey/enjoy the wildlife. you guys are allowed to be here and kill stuff as well but this means you ought to at least respect us and our interests by at least not blowing the next boxes apart."
cretins.

this is a really important point. okay, so people come in, fish, walk dogs off leads, ride motorbikes and lose sight of the fact that it's a NATURE reserve. people may find watching birds eccentric, nerdy, but when they actually take the piss, really start crossing that line, they should remember where they are..

edit - saying that, i like to look at birds anywhere and i expect some weird looks/moronic comments but it stings most when people decide to take the piss in an actual nature reserve.

 

[KorHaan]

I found something new to irritate me tonight. The RSPB put those laminated pages of the local birds in hides on chains and when kids are in there they just rattle them all the time looking for the bird they have just seen. Why oh why can't they use wire rope, it is much quieter?

To prevent them from nicking them!
Next time you're going bring concrete shears, hammer and nails, wait until you're alone, cut the chains and nail the sheets to the wall with at least 130 nails.
That'll teach them.

Reminds me of some irritation I used to have in two or three hides; the windows were shuttered half, permanently, with screws. Leaving only the lower half of the windows to peek through, impossible to see the sky.
I used to bring a screwdriver each time I went there to get the hatches off and finally have a clear view, but they repaired them shortly after so next time I had to do it all over again.
Finally they decided to use screws that can't be worked out, so now there can't be done anything and you just have to peek and have a severe back ache, because in their wisdom they decided any planks to rest your elbows on would not be necessary. Way to go, Natuurmonumenten!

I was not the only one undoing the screws each time, others had sometimes done it before me.
Maybe next time I should bring a hecksaw and make the windows a little larger.

Regards, Ronald

 

[danehower]

Global Warming Documentaries.

They're preaching to the choir, (we all know the enemy doesn't watch these programs), and it's a sad and inevitable song. Every time I see a gorgeous bird I find myself counting the minutes.

How did we let this happen?

I hear that Robert ! - Kind of makes you think we are witness to something passing ? Not easy !

 

[KorHaan]

Very irritating are people who come to me when I'm watching through my scope and quietly minding my own business, and then start telling me there are too many Magpies and Crows and they're eating all their garden birds' eggs and young, and I can't simply deny that and have to give them a lecture which I don't want to because I'm birdwatching, but I'm not rude enough to tell them to p*ss off what is exactly what I would want to do.
I think I should learn some deeply sarcastic phrases by heart to say to these people, or carry a sign " Do not disturb " like I'm a hotel door or something.

What a great thread this is. So funny!

Regards, Ronald

 

[djleahy]

I'm most annoyed by thin-skinned birders. <-- This is a recursive statement.

 

[KorHaan]

I'm most annoyed by thin-skinned birders. <-- This is a recursive statement.

Yes it is. Irritating one-liners.

 

[Allen S. Moore]

I'm most annoyed by thin-skinned birders. <-- This is a recursive statement.

I've never come across this expression "thin-skinned." What does it mean - someone who is touchy, easily upset, the exact opposite of "thick-skinned"?

 

[johnraven]

Very irritating are people who come to me when I'm watching through my scope and quietly minding my own business, and then start telling me there are too many Magpies and Crows and they're eating all their garden birds' eggs and young, and I can't simply deny that and have to give them a lecture which I don't want to because I'm birdwatching, but I'm not rude enough to tell them to p*ss off what is exactly what I would want to do.
I think I should learn some deeply sarcastic phrases by heart to say to these people, or carry a sign " Do not disturb " like I'm a hotel door or something.

What a great thread this is. So funny!

Regards, Ronald

Ask them if they are into sexual liberation. It is an extremely effective way of getting rid of Jehovah's Witnesses that come to the door, so I'm sure it will work with irritating halfwits as well.

 

[steve west]

I'd go along with the comments about ticks and global warning documentaries (intentional mistake), with some nuances.

Deer ticks in Scotland (that's what I presume they are from my two very negative experiences of these unholy arachnids). Tiny SOBs that crawl into the remotest, or most socially-sensitive, recesses of the human body given half a chance. My first experience with them was on the Outer Hebrides. I had a few hours to kill while waiting for the ferry from South Uist and so thought of nothing better to do than lie down on the heather and have a short nap. I woke up from pleasant dreams into a nightmare: dozens of tiny ticks had crawled all over me, attaching themselves to eyelids, crotch, legs, neck, etc. I spent much of the 30-hour trip back to Norwich trying to differentiate psycho-somatic itches from real ones, and rushing to the nearest loo to inspect the dear private parts and elsewhere. Oh yes, the ones I managed to pull off came out in lovely yellow pustules.

I agree that global warming documentaries are depressing doom and gloom, but then again that's often the style or at least the footnote of many wildlife documentaries. We in the choir all know about it, but we are often accompanied by those aspiring to become members or half-interested parties. I personally would not choose to watch such a documentary, I already digested the basic message a long time ago, but if they are there then no-one can claim ignorance without it looking like purely willful ignorance.

Steve
http://www.BirdingInSpain.com

 

[steve west]

I've just noticed: the title of this thread is "What irrates you...
Is that irritates? Irates? Or does it not make any difference?

 

[Gill Osborne]

Very irritating are people who come to me when I'm watching through my scope and quietly minding my own business, and then start telling me there are too many Magpies and Crows and they're eating all their garden birds' eggs and young...

This one drives me nuts too :C It's nature, the corvids have young to feed too - get over it

What really annoys me tho IS dog walkers who bag up the crap and don't take it away :storm: I'll occasionally have my whippet with me but she stays on the lead in sensitive areas, is not allowed to jump up at folks and anything she does is bagged up by me and taken home to go in our bin. I've caught folks ignoring the fact that their dog has just emptied itself.....I soon put them right :-O There's just no excuse for it :C
Oh, and numpties who let their dogs/children charge up to groups of birds on the beach even though they can clearly see you watching them :C

what a great thread this is. So funny!

:t:

 

[Clive A]

Not exactly when I am out birding, but at home when my teenage daughter is giving me a hard time, she will say "why don't you just go birrrd watching" as though I am some kind of retard :C

 

[Xenospiza]

Very irritating are people who come to me when I'm watching through my scope and quietly minding my own business, and then start telling me there are too many Magpies and Crows

Or too many raptors "eating all the Lapwings and Godwits". Grrrr.