Every year for the past decade or so I've spent a long weekend in Cape May during the fall migration period. In that time I've run into a handful of jerks who like nothing more than talking down to us mere hobbyists. While astonishingly annoying, they are by far the minority. Most folks are warm and helpful. I can't tell you how many times I've been offered a look through a scope at something outstanding (like a well camouflaged Least Bittern) or a simple heads up. Most people relish the chance to show off what they've found, and they are god damned *nice* about it.

I agree with the poster who spoke of the ".edu" people - they are not always jerks, but in my experience, there is some degree of correlation there. It doesn't help that I'm young and somewhat 'nontraditional' in appearance - I think that sets something off in jerks everywhere.

One small quibble (with anecdote) - I once came across a mixed group of six or seven birders arguing about the best method of 'dispatching' (their word) a snake they'd located in a tree, no doubt fixing to dine at the warbler buffet. Smacking it with a folded tripod seemed to be carrying the day. I wouldn't allow it, and was rebuked strongly (seriously - my mother was slurred!). My quibble is that many rational birders somehow manage to crush so hard on birds they neglect the importance of the rest of the ecosystem. I've noticed this time and time again in casual conversation. It seems like they are missing the point of all this enjoying of the nature.

I spend most of my time watching and documenting the birds in my backyard, so I get to know some of the individual quite well.

Most of the images are of common birds and their interactions while flying, aerial acrobats performing daring maneuvers.

As Bukk63 said "I don't care how many times I see ... a sparrow in my backyard. I just love watching them."

The bickering sparrows are a lot like us.

http://CloudBoxer.com

-- Rick

I used to feed birds in winter when I lived in the northwoods of WI.

I always enjoyed the many species which came to dine in my back yeard.

My favorite time of year is spring.

I spemd a lot of time on the golf course and also fishing.

It's quiet in both places and I totally enjoy being serenaded by the various songs.

I live in north central EI and I have found that the cardinals aren't nearly as populous as they were.

I found out it is due to there being more lutherans than catholics here and all the law suits against priest.

I gues the cardinals are in hiding.

I'd like to comment about two things.

One is that I'm a lover of bebop and have many many vinyls, cassettes and CDs of jazz.

The other is about the chicks.

This was me on the March 1941 cover of a mag called, "American Poultry Journal.

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/7761/hpim0037wn5.jpg

I agree with everyone else, but still feel compelled to echo. And I'm glad to see Tupelo explained the difference between a bird watcher, a birder, and a twitcher. I've also called twitchers "chasers." I remember years ago someone explaining how runners hate to be called "joggers." Same thing here.

I'm a birder, even though I'm not very good. I have definitely chased birds, and thanks to listservs it's very easy to do, particularly if you live in a flyway state or coastal state as I do. My six-year-old daughter, my sister, my mother and I do a big birding trip every year or so. (And we're definitely the oddballs of birding, being all women.) As for the image of a lister checking the bird off then moving on post-haste - I've never seen that. I've met some jerks, but their jerkiness manifests as a snotty academic vs. a lowly amateur. Those listserv members with .edu email addresses aren't always very friendly in the field, in my experience. Personally, my problem is that if I've found a fabulous bird (Mississippi Kite at a crawfish farm in South Carolina, most recently) I can't figure out how to walk away. I always want to bird to fly off first. As long as the bird is there, I want to be there to appreciate it. And I might be disappointed to go birding and "only" see Canada Geese or Great Blue Herons, although I never fail to thrill at the unexpected Great Blue flying (with the slowest flapping wings of any bird!) over, say, an interstate, or somewhere random.

And as to the insensitive listers on the trip to Peru: that sounds like they picked a bad trip. There are birder-specific trips to fabulous places, and everyone in the group is looking for birds. The additional fawna is a bonus, but those trips aren't going to be meandering strolls through the jungle. Sounds like those mean people bought a nature trip rather than a bird trip, and that was their mistake.

That said, I agree that most birders/listers are nature-lovers and are NOT insensitve, competitive jerks. A few are jerks, but a few everythings are jerks. There certainly aren't enough jerks to legitimize the premise of this story. I havent' read the book, so I don't know if this is an accurate assessment of the book, but I hope not.

But maybe this is an indication of birding finally becoming some sort of indie-cool. You know you've arrived when the criticism and harpies (little bird pun there) start chiming in.

This may sound a little wonky to those who aren't bird people but there is kind of a hierarchy among bird enthusiasts. There are "Birdwatchers" who enjoy watching birds at their feeders but usually don't go much further. "Birders" actively go out in the field with the express purpose of searching for birds. Then "Twitchers" are the type to drop everything and look for rare birds with which to build up their lists, it's a slang term. To the extent that someone places value on any of those groups is up to the individual. But I'm of the belief that people into birds is good, regardless of how they express that interest. Most of the jerks are in the third group though.

But there are jerks that do everything, unfortunately. I've found that most birders are friendly folks who are interested in getting people interested in the environment in general. Birds are kind of a good introduction to nature study because their diversity is high without being overwhelming and they are easily accessible to just about everyone.

After a while, most birders realize that a huge list is almost more an indication of super bank-account than super field skill anyway. In short, you don't have to be a good birder to be a good twitcher. Those obsessive types that collect birds like people collect stamps are few and far between, and their impact is probably less than what Weidensaul implies in his book.