Quotes About Birding

It can be difficult to accept the fact that a lot of birds have to be identified as "possible" or "probable.

But in the early 1970s, we were not birdwatching. We were birding, and that made all the difference. We were out to seek, to discover, to chase, to learn, to find as many different kinds of birds as possible — and, in friendly competition, to try to find more of them than the next birder. We became a community of birders, with the complications that human societies always have; and although it was the birds that had brought us together, our story became a human story after all.

Careful readers will note that the guy who "won" was hardly a shining example of birding ethics. What kind of person would pay thousands of dollars for flights and car rentals to chase a rare bird and then try to avoid paying a couple of bucks to get into a state park? Real birders carry their share, do their part, try to support the resource that supports birding.

It was one of those mornings when you realize, with chilling clarity, that birding is a ridiculous activity.

The American Ornithologists' Union, in a decision published earlier that year, had decreed that the White-winged was just a local variety, not a full specieis. So much for the Black Hills' only claim to birding fame. The juncos themselves, of course, did not seem to care; watching them, neither did I.

A new perspective was dawning on me. As a crass young bird-lister, I might have said: a trip to the Tortugas is good, because it adds species to the total. But a better viewpoint would be: working on a list is good, because it gives me an excuse to come to the Tortugas. After this Big Year was over, I hoped, I would be wise enough to come back to this place for its own sake.

He'd brought his 35 mm camera, the one he used to take photos on his birding trips, and was snapping pictures of it all.

When you're a birder, you have all sorts of reference books, and you know about migratory patterns and technical stuff. Most people just look out the window, and say 'is that a pigeon?'

The bottom line: higher-level taxonomy is usually unhelpful for birding. Species-level taxonomy is a matter of opinion. But in between, at the levels of family and genus, that's where taxonomy can be really helpful for birding.

The difference between accomplished birders and beginning birders is that accomplished birders have misidentified thousands of birds and beginning birders relatively few.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT this statement? "A backyard bird feeder will help take the stress out of your life." A friend of mine uses that line to promote her birding shop in Barnegat, New Jersey. It's warm, appealing, and will, with luck, help her turn a lot of people on to birding. However, with no offense to my friend, stress-free bird feeding falls into the same category as painless dentistry.