Birdwatcher, Birder, or Ornithologist?

If there is any hobby, a pastime that has been attracting people in a big way other than for competitive sport…... it is said to be for birdwatching. 

While this stands true in most countries, it is also sad to note that many personalities who have been in to big time birdwatching and account for a large list of birds seen, tend to go into a self–deception of his achievement leading to snobbery…………

As such I was curious in exploring to find the true definition of the types of people who mingle about with birds. There had been others in my path before …………...

The best description that I came across was that of Dale Forbes ……

 

“Birdwatching could be described as a division of entertainment where one is out to see birds in their common living spaces aided with or without equipment such as binoculars, spotting scopes or field guides. The expression "Birding" is more centered on finding and study than just general viewing. Ornithology is portrayed as the logical life-investigation of birds.”

Elaborating further on the personalities, he goes on to imagine the various divisions occupying a lonely forest bench opening out to a beautiful forest vista….

The Birdwatcher

The birdwatcher sits at the bench, and hopes that the most exciting bird is to come up to him providing the glory of observation at the ease and comfort being on the bench. He is of the notion that running about looking for them will only scare them off. He is the bench sitter type.

The Birder

The birder seeing the bench will enjoy the beautiful forest and the occasional bird that would come over but would decide the best birds are else ware and would scurry off to find them. He is the bench appreciator type.

The Twitcher

The twitcher would account the bench only as a landmark to a very rare bird sighting in this location. He would after many years of chasing behind rare birds end up as a bench sitter

The Bird ringer

For the bird ringer the bench would be a field station where he will install his nets in close proximity so that he could make a net-check every 30 minutes; extract the birds and carry them to the seat to ring them and release them.

The Ornithologist

The field ornithologist will demarcate his sampling sites so that as many point sample sites coincide with these bench sites in the forests. That way he can count the birds while he also has a cool spot to sit and relax.

The academic ornithologist on the other hand would wish to be sitting on the bench and playing with the theories….. rather than sit at an office computer hidden behind stacks of books and tall racks filled with journals and literature.

I would add another type to the list

The Bird Guide

The bird guide would bring his clients over to the bench to show the birds that had been seen by others while sitting here. If he is not lucky with the birds he would then describe the type of people who had seen them while sitting here in order to please his clients. He is the bench seller type.

So it is up to you to choose to the class that you best suit when among the BIRDS