Why are field guides taboo in the field? (2 Viewers)

[Bluetail]

In my limited beginner's experience so far, I think the most rewarding bird sightings have been spotting a new species after being familiar with photographs and drawings of it.

How true! You carry the mental image and then the bird makes the illustration come alive. Magic!

Personally I'm all for taking a field guide into the field - but strictly to use as a last resort. Homework first, then take notes. Then - and only then - check it out against the field guide. Taking notes teaches you to observe properly: you may even end up spotting features often left out of field guide illustrations.

 

[egret3]

With regard to sketches.. yes,
a lovely idea.. however, for me
I can not sketch.. with my right hand
have trouble with that arm so..
tapes.. and a wee guide..
as Mick above mentions..
just to refer to.. Also, a friend of mine
who goes with me, wears 2 hearing aids
so he really likes to refer to the books.
Any of you here with hearing problems,
perhaps you could suggest to me, what you do
to hear the birds. He does wear hearing aids.

Again, I find in life you meet
good and bad.. and if people really
want to be like this about a person
learning.. or their method.. be critical
that is. I avoid them.

There are many fine birders out
there willing to help, as in all fields.

Ps.. I am going to look for that cheap guide,
WHSMITHS.. the one in my possession
not good.. the plates are not on the same
page as the text.
It is an Audubon one.

 

[Bill@dwp]

Never leave home without one. I have the RSPB guide in my bag and keep Collins at home as thats more detailed.

Never think twice about getting the guide out whereever i am and have never noticed any "looks" or heard any disparaging remarks. If I did then I tell them were to get off its nothing to do with them anyway.

I bird for myself and if I'm not sure and the bird allows me the time I'll check with the guide. If I'm still not sure then I make a mental note of what I view as important and then check when i get home. I also use a DVD Bird Gude at home and also have a CD ROM guide (both presents) which also help. Sometimes I still cant be sure so I chalk up to bad luck and dont fret about it.

I have ticked things incorrectly but as I have grown in experience I have realsied these mistakes I hope. Again its my list, I dont share it with anyone and i am not all bothered about the numbers on it. I'm never going to get in the 400 club and could be bothered trying.

I have personal goal of seeing all the main british birds (those live here and those that breed here) prbably wont make but hey.

I am probably my own worst critic and I'm not happy I've seen a bird unless I'm sure and I've had a decent view. For this reason I've probably not listed some LBJ's etc.

Birding isnt my job and as Mick says its a hobby. Anyone who gives you stick about using the guide aren't worth a light.

 

[Mark Bruce]

I thought that birding with a field guide was normal,that was until I came across U.K.birders.I mean no disrespect to U.K.birders,but from what I have read in the posts on this Thread,it seems to be a problem faced more often by U.K.birders than birders in other parts.

I started birding in my native country of South Africa.There,when I birded with others,which was always small groups of about 6 birders on average,we always carried field guides.We would make sure that we weren't all carrying the same guides,and had 2 or 3 types in the group.It was quite normal to discuss what we had seen,and consult our guides in the field.This happened a lot when looking at raptors.

In my present location of Taiwan,guides are used openly.It's normal to carry and use field guides here.I have only once come across a birder who seemed to disprove of my use of a guide,and he was English.

In Taiwan there is no real current English Field Guide(IF you know of one,please tell me!).I use a Mandarin guide into which I have written my own notes ,and carry a bundle of papers(35 x A4 pages)with English descriptions of the birds found in the region.I have never seen a Taiwanese birder give me a second glance as I bird with my battered guide and bundle of papers.Here birding with guides is very much the culture,and has no reflection on your competence as a birder.

 

[Bluetail]

I thought that birding with a field guide was normal,that was until I came across U.K.birders.I mean no disrespect to U.K.birders,but from what I have read in the posts on this Thread,it seems to be a problem faced more often by U.K.birders than birders in other parts.

Yes it does seem to be a peculiarly British thing, but aren't we in danger of making a mountain out of a molehill here? I haven't read back through the thread to check, but I'm not aware of it actually being a problem as such. I mean, I've never actually seen anyone get criticised for using a field guide in public. If it happens (and I daresay it does sometimes) I'd imagine it's pretty rare.

 

[Hotspur]

My fieldguide is with me the whole time. When things are quiet on my local patch i revise fieldmarks of likely species from the guide whilst waiting on something to pitch up. Im rubbish, who cares. If you do then get a life..........

 

[MSA]

One point I can't see mentioned in this long-running thread (forgive me if I've overlooked it, but I'm new around here!) is that if an unfamiliar bird appears, it may not stick around long enough to take detailed notes. What happens if you've sketched a quick overview, worked back from head to tail taking detailed plumage notes, bird flies off, you check field guide and only then find out that the key feature was length of hindclaw, and the legs were the only part you didn't have time to note!
If you're looking to get a bird accepted by Rarities Committee, you'll need full notes taken at the time, and a field guide may be counter-productive. If you just want to learn, a quick peek at a guide seems sensible. However, the best way is to bird with someone more experienced, if possible, and ask questions.

 

[edrick owl]

I've only read the first half dozen or so replies, so forgive me if I've missed this point.

If it's so taboo to have to look at a bird guide, then why are there Bird ID Laminated Cards/Charts in some of the hides - eg at Blacktoft where I have been? I personally think it is a brilliant idea - and so must plenty of other people as they are chained to the shelf!!!

Surely Blacktoft is not the only place to do this (but the only RSPB reserve I've been to) and woud have taken it for granted and as being common sense. I think that's it - COMMON SENSE - people who sneer etc just have not got any.

Regards,

 

[Cillana]

Really? I've never heard of that! But then I'm an pretty amateur birder and I don't know any other birders. I can understand how you might get clouded by seeing the other pictures in the book. I have problems with that when I have to go back and look at the book after I've seen the bird and left. Usually I like to have the book right there so I can look up the bird, look down at the book, up, down, etc. looking for marks that the book mentions.

 

[Colin Trotman]

Make a mental picture, then refer to your guide - if you aren't very good, or quick at sketching, your bird might have flown anyhow.
Don't let anyone else tell you it's 'not the done thing' if you prefer using a book.

 

[lvn600]

Trying to sketch(and in my case I do mean try) and note as many details as time will allow is my first priority but I also have a mental image that would degrade if I waited a long time before checking in the field guide for a bird I was unsure of.Therefore I prefer to take it with me.

 

[stopper44]

Birding is my interest. Not my bosses. I don't get paid for my interest. So therefore, I couldn't careless of what someone says about carrying a field guide.
What matters is how I treat the environment so others can enjoy my interest.
Lots of good points above.

jR

 

[JTF]

I always carry my field guide whenever I am birding.

 

[elkcub]

I can't get my head round the fact that most birders seem to feel that you shouldn't use a field guide in the field?!!! In Mark Cockers book he decries the practice - feeling that a 'real' birder should know intimately every species he is likely to see while out and if he doesn't he should take notes and then use the guide at home. WHY??? My wife and I thoroughly enjoy pulling out our battered and well loved Collins Guide in hides and seeing 'birders' sneer at us (the same ones who seem to feel that birders shouldn't talk to each other either!!) We like to be able to ID birds on the spot - when we can check subtle points against the guide. What do you guy's think - am I a Philistine?

A guide is a memory aide and friend in times of confusion.

Elkcub

 

[Thayeri]

Giving up the guide in the field can be seen a couple of different ways.

One is as a matter of individual development as a birder. It means saying that we know the species where we are well enough that we will quickly recognize almost all of them -- and if we don't, we are skilled enough to know what to look at, what is different, how to look at the bird and study the field marks well enough to allow a later definitive ID. Getting our knowledge to that point -- if that is our objective, is a profoundly good thing on a personal level, something to be proud of.

Another is as a social and status thing among birders, kind of helping to establish your place in the pecking order so to speak. While the Brits are quite different from here (and most of the rest of the world) in many ways with birding, this is also something I see here. Pride goeth before a fall however, and every year as predictable as the change of the seasons, several of the self-designated first tier birders, the kind who would never be seen consulting a field guide in the field, will make dodgy calls that just might have been avoided if they had a field guide in their backpacks.

Personally, a field guide went with me almost everywhere for years, and one is still right by me whenever I go off my "territory". I have little patience for the hierarchial quirks of the local "elite" birders, and have no problem with openly carrying a guide in situations where one is desirable to me. Nonetheless, I never carry a guide anymore for my walks in my local patch, because I feel it is the right thing for me, and where I am currently at with my hobby.

 

[meles]

Personally, I usually carry both a normal field guide and a guide to rare birds in Britain in case something unusual turns up. I can't claim to recognise every possible British bird in every state of plumage and, if I'm not sure, I'd rather check. There are certain circumstances when I would feel intimidated into not consulting one - the cream-coloured courser on St Agnes was an instance where I decided to leave the books in the bag rather than read the details about the bird in public. But I wonder how many other people had a subtle read-up about it when they got home?!

 

[Mickymouse]

Since I last posted in this thread, I have had 2 occasions when I was amongst more experienced birders and got my field guide out, both times on seeing this, one off the experienced types came over to me and offered to help, I suspect that the more expert birders don't carry field guides with them because they don't need to.

Mick

 

[Doug]

I have just noticed I started this thread in December 2002 - is this a record for the longest running thread on Birdforum? I wonder if it will make it to December 2005?

I still carry Collins when on a birding day out, but not on shorter walks around our patch. I wish Collins would produce a guide more like the Macmillan Guide which only covers confusion species and unusual birds - this would make it much lighter and easier to use in the field.

 

[seedyrom]

I have just noticed I started this thread in December 2002 - is this a record for the longest running thread on Birdforum? I wonder if it will make it to December 2005?

I still carry Collins when on a birding day out, but not on shorter walks around our patch. I wish Collins would produce a guide more like the Macmillan Guide which only covers confusion species and unusual birds - this would make it much lighter and easier to use in the field.

My partner and I are only beginners. W always take a field guide and a note-book. We would like a book that concentrates on just British birds but haven't found one we like ... yet. We also use a guide when possible.(We like Goa and The Gambia). Fiinding someone to teach you about birds in this country is hard - there do not seem to be many bird groups around.

 

[scodger]

take no notice

I can't get my head round the fact that most birders seem to feel that you shouldn't use a field guide in the field?!!! In Mark Cockers book he decries the practice - feeling that a 'real' birder should know intimately every species he is likely to see while out and if he doesn't he should take notes and then use the guide at home. WHY??? My wife and I thoroughly enjoy pulling out our battered and well loved Collins Guide in hides and seeing 'birders' sneer at us (the same ones who seem to feel that birders shouldn't talk to each other either!!) We like to be able to ID birds on the spot - when we can check subtle points against the guide. What do you guy's think - am I a Philistine?

Mr Cocker sounds arrogant to me, a lot of birders are learning and it is good to be able to make an immediate reference in the field. Make notes as well and ask for help from others there. I suggest that the ones that dont talk are generally lacking confidence and not wanting to put their head above the parapet. If I come across Mr Cocker in the field I shall pull out my field guide and embarrass him with a barrage of loud innane birdy questions.