Why do many other people think we are strange? (1 Viewer)

[Talon 1]

We seem to be put in the Trainspotting brigade but why?
I honestly do not care but i have other hobbies but when my neighbour saw me take a picture of a tit recently in my garden he just laughed and shook his head?

My son (19) thinks i am mad and his mates say things like seen any good tits lately......Of which they have stopped now as the reaction they got is not worth mentioning on a family site and now they look interested.

I once recently went to Bodium castle in kent where i got my tripod out and took some pictures of the landscape and a few birds.
A woodpecker arrived and i tried to take a quick shot but it went off to quick, DAMN i said and a passer by looked at me with my camera pointing into the tree as if i was a fool and laughed!

Do not get me wrong i really do not care but we do seem to have this pathetic Stigma attached to us. If we went Otter or Badger or deer spotting then we would get a 'Did you find one' not a laugh as if 'He is one of those odd bird watchers'

How narrow minded some people are these days. These creatures where around millions of years before us.
My sister who had no interest in birds the other day came round for a coffee and i Had the 'Life of Birds' on. She watched the episode of the fish eaters and was amazed by the diving of the boobies and the kingfisher.
Now she has a feeder up in her garden and constantly rings me.

Mind you she has got Goldfinches the lucky B***H :C

 

[Articuno]

Yes I've noticed we're lablled as odd..especially for school kids. I started birdwatching at age 10 and even at such a young age, the children thought it was strange and teased! What is it with people and birds? Why do they automatically find it funny when you say your favourite animal is a bird?
Tell you what....a while back there was a ad on tv for the cereal 'Frosted Shreddies'. It showed a bird watcher with the slogan 'Too tasty for geeks'. Does anyone remember that? It was really insulting..

 

[Aracari]

They prefer to watch "Celebrities Uncensored".... I laugh at people who sees that kind of thing. They are the strange ones... or... like once said... the "ignorant masses".

You can try to politely explain it to them, the relation of bird watching with the understanding of nature and ouserlves, but they will never understand.

 

[lvn600]

People don't understand what the appeal is.They think someone who watches birds is an odball.

 

[Pinewood]

This morning, I met two bird watchers in Central Park. One said, "Good morning," before we exchanged words about what was to be seen. Except for his binoculars, there was nothing to distinguish him. The other was dressed in a Tilley hat, green clothes, including a jacket or vest, on a very hot day. He barely acknowledged my existence after I said , "Hello." Of course, the latter looked extremely odd, dressed for the woods, withing 100 meters of busy streets and a million people. What would you make of him?
For the record, I was dressed in a Panama hat and lightweight sports jacket, trouser, shirt, shoes, etc. as appropriate for my Sunday morning.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood

 

[Okie]

Another prospective here. Seems when we get in a conversation concerning bird watching we draw a small but interested crowd. Others appear to be interested in what my bird watching pals have to say and what we have added to our life lists. Know what is odd from my view? Being in a crowd of thousands watching some sporting game or another when we can be right here in our part of the Cimmeron Valley watching not only the birds, but all the other forms of wildlife come and go from the feeders in the back yard area while sipping ice tea in the afternoons or coffee in the morning.

 

[Judybird]

I agree with Okie...

I asked one of my coworkers if they thought my bird/bug photo hobby was odd. Quite the contrary- they replied that it was nice that I had something to be so passionate about. They added there wasn't anything in their life that they could be so focused on. Another associate chimed in, that I was one of the few that had my priorities straight in a healthy, happy hobby. I took both comments as encouragement and I am proud to be a bit odd - odd but content.

 

[Pileated_MO]

I really haven't met anyone yet who thought I was odd, yet (though I don't deny being odd ;-) ) For the most part, coworkers and friends seem to come to me with questions about birds they've seen or just to let me know what's in their backyard. It's been a lot of fun.

 

[Dave Adshead]

Do you ever reflect on what you do. I sometimes stop and pause and think about it, why do I do this?
Yesterday afternoon I stepped into the churchyard at Spurn with a mate of mine, there were already 1/2 dozen other men there armed with bins, scopes or camera, staring intently at a bush. I stopped for a moment and just studied the scene of these grown men, then lifted my bins and watched a pied flycatcher doing its stuff.

Then as the day wore on, I was walking along the beach at Spurn towards the point, the sun was firey red and was dipping towards the horizon, a crimson path made its way across the esturine water towards me, and at the waters edge just a few metres away, silhouetted in the red light I could see a flock of ring plover, sanderling and the odd dunlin running up and down the beach like excited kids. A sunset at Spurn is a great sight to see.
And thats why I do it!
Dave

 

[florall]

I agree with some of the others, I've never met anyone who thinks I'm odd. When we're out birdwatching, very often people passing, dogwalkers etc. ask what we're looking at and take an interest, tell us about the birds they might have seen casually in the area.

As for friends who aren't birdwatchers, I don't push it. I don't see the point of going on about birds and my birdwatching if they aren't interested. There are plenty of other things to talk about.

 

[Corax67]

I think it has something to do with the fact that we are!

Just look at the evidence:

- Our hobby is quiet
- We care about the environment
- We endeavour to make minimum impact on our surroundings
- We do not fight with others who enjoy the same hobby
- We do not get drunk & fight after a birding session (well, not always!)​

With all of this against us is it any wonder that 'normal' people think we are strange.

However, in our defence, there is always the case for a good twitch when all of the above goes out of the window, so who knows perhaps there is hope for us after all.

 

[nessie]

Whilst none of my friends are remotely interested in birdwatching (one calls me a treehugger!) I always seem to get texts asking for ID on birds they've just seen.
Never had any insults from passers by and they wouldn't bother me anyway. If I do get laughed at it's more likely to be due to my comedy hat (very cosy in the winter and I wouldn't be without it!) than for my binoculars and 'scope.

Natalie

 

[lvn600]

People don't understand what the appeal is.They think someone who watches birds is an odball.

People have never come up to me and said that I was odd because of birdwatching then again I wouldn't care if they did. I have had a few people make subtle jokes that would indicate that they thought what I was doing was odd or silly. Most people show a little interest or curiosity and then move on.

 

[Hotspur]

Birdwatching is a bizarre hobby in that it is caught in the neverland of geekiness due to the participants resenbelence to trainspotters (through necessity largely-if its cold a hat and thermos i guess are essential). I get accused of being a dude by other birders because i tend to wear more conventional clothes by societies standards but i think this is more to do with the fact im 23 and still a tad fashion consious and 25 years younger than most of my fellow birders. I get the mickey taken out of me constantly by my friends and my girlfriend but always in a light jocular way. I enjoy it, they know i enjoy it and i take it reasonably seriously. I also take great delight in watch a bunch of men kick a pigs bladder round a park or try and hit a cork ball out of it. A pastime intrests you- a lot of pstimes are "geeky". Birding is because it requires a lot of knowledge about the subject before you become any good thus fuelling the obsessive nature of it. However if you wear a tilley hat and camo you are asking for it IMHO!

 

[the bird]

People I've met never looked at me coz I'm weird, and if they thought I was weird... then they're townies and their opinion doesn't count.

 

[Talon 1]

And yet its odd but great that if you are a 6ft bloke with tattoos watching birds then all of a sudden someone asks you for a spare feeder?
And then your wife gets asked at work 'I saw this bird today..............

Strange?

 

[Bill@dwp]

I think people's attitudes over the years have changed and the weirdo birdwatcher tag has lessened to a large degree. In my experience family, friends and work colleagues all take an interest to a degree far more than they did. Some of it is to do with with me, because they know I do it, but in general people are getting more into it themselves.
TV helps alot, the success of Bill Oddies programmes and the like are not just down to him alone.
As with Florall whenever I'm out if I encounter folk they often ask if I've seen anything interesting and if they can have something pointed out to them as well then thats all the better.
Plus if you rise to the bait then the ones who want to have a go will do it all the more. If you ignore them then they always seem to come around.
Peoples reactions dont bother me really, I suppose because I have replied to this post means it must affect me a little, but its not going to stop me in anyway.

 

[Kentbloke]

Hotspur wrote:

because i tend to wear more conventional clothes by societies standards...

Good point! I tend to wear 'normal' clobber while birding, whilst some 'serious' birders are visible at a 1000 yards - ironicaly, because of their camoflage! Anyone who has an interest outside of the norm (whatever that is?) is considered strange by the masses. Isn't it the same as schoolkids disliking the 'clever kid' in the class? It could be argued that twitchers are like trainspotters in as much as the goal is to 'collect' numbers. I'm no twitcher(phew!) but I will drive to see a bird that's a little out of my patch. Weird? Who cares!

 

[the bird]

Anyone who has an interest outside of the norm (whatever that is?) is considered strange by the masses..........


totally agree



It could be argued that twitchers are like trainspotters in as much as the goal is to 'collect' numbers. I'm no twitcher(phew!) but I will drive to see a bird that's a little out of my patch........


totally and uttrly agree

you seem a very sensible Kent Bloke :clap:

 

[HH75]

Hi all,

- We do not fight with others who enjoy the same hobby
- We do not get drunk & fight after a birding session (well, not always!)

Hmm, I'll say nothing....
Harry