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Thanks to BetterLekNextTime for directing me here from the birding photography thread! It's great seeing that there are goons into birding. In my years of lurking and then finally getting an account, I always wondered if there were others here into this "nerdy" hobby, that a lot of people typically expect older folk with too much time and money to be into. I've always had an interest in the avian species as a whole (particularly birds of the columbidae clade - pigeons and doves), and after falling ill, my partner introduced me to this world I had no idea existed. An entire community of people who all shared a love for the species as a whole, and wanted to continue learning, tracking, and conserving. Birding has become a healthy obsession for me and has helped me through what have been a very dark 10 months. I began listing (Rock-hopper Penguin being the first tick - a rarity down here in South Africa), and refuse to list anything I haven't seen within a month and haven't observed for at least 1 minute. I'll only tick if 99.99% sure on the ID. In short - birding has given me hope in a life that isn't really too full of it right now. The big names in birding down here have also been amazing people to meet, and while being competitive and sarcastic pricks most of the time, are simply passionate and always willing to help. One in particular offering to drive us out of the city to twitch a wandering Marabou Stork earlier this year after our car died. Typically, birders are just awesome people. I'll definitely be watching and contributing to this thread!
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Sep 7, 2013 10:42
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Balaeniceps posted:One of the things I don’t like about the hobby in general is that birding is still heavily the preserve of middle-aged men. Is it the same in America? I can chime in from a perspective of a South African birder. While the majority seems to be middle aged men, I've actually come across mostly women in the club I'm in, and outside of it too. Yeah, most of the big names are male, but there are definitely some more than confident and knowledgeable women and younger avid birders down here. I'll also chime in to say that both my boyfriend and I are in our 20s, and have come across many others in their 20s/early 30s who are into birding or conservation. It's pretty broad down here.
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Sep 10, 2013 09:07
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While it is rare to see younger women into birding/outdoor activities, we do exist. Although, as a 22 year old female birder and general wildlife enthusiast who has been such her entire life (although I only actively started birding and listing last year), it is quite bleak that there aren't more women my own age into it. Although, that's not really too important to me. I'm in it for the feathered birds. I do know of a few younger women (early 20s) into things such as microbiology and studying ornithology though. What I'm interested in is how it's such a broad spectrum of people who are into the entire birding thing, and how accepting everyone in the local communities are towards differences in taste, etc. I come from a hardcore-punk background - as does the boyfriend - and we always get asked questions about our specific tattoos and shirts and patches by the older members, because they are simply interested. I love the fact that you can be into practically anything, and you'll be accepted simply because you all share the same passion. I remember the boyfriend (fellow goon under the name meso) telling me about one woman looking at his "ABOLISH CAPITALISM - SMASH THE STATE" patch and responding with, "I agree! Capitalism is evil! I don't know what we'd replace it with though..." It can be depressing listening to the older members talk about how their partners died or how many times they've been divorced though... On the SA birding related front though, we recently had a regional rarity that a lot of people are considering a mega! First recorded spotting in the province! There has been a lone Bush Blackcap wandering about in one of the botanical gardens down here. It's a bit out of our way (money and petrol being an issue) to go and twitch it, but considering some of the other rarities that have been spotted in recent months, I'm hoping for some off-course migrants to show up the further we get into the warmer months...
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Sep 10, 2013 23:58
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800peepee51doodoo posted:What up punk birder buddy. A lot of the activist-y, punks-is-hippies types are into birding around here, too. Usually the older ones though, heh. Heya! There don't seem to be many of us supposedly "troubled" lot into birding. There's actually a Facebook page for a wildlife enthusiast and birder called Punkbirder. Perhaps it is you! Haha. This is actually an interesting thing to touch on for those who are interested in learning more in this thread. South African birding is supposedly some of the best birding one can do, but if you live down here and earn according to the economy (which is falling miserably), travelling up-country (or down-country for those not in the lower parts of the Western Province) can be incredibly pricey. It may seem really bizarre that those of us in the Western Province would get all excited when something as drab as that li'l blackcap pops up, especially when we have some pretty amazing birds as it is, but considering the fact that it's about 800 kilometres from where it should be, and that it's never hit the province before makes it somewhat special. It's also something of a treat to those who are into "provincial listing" and are a bit more competitive than others. It's almost like an achievement in a sense if you get to see this silly little individual, no matter how boring it may look, and others can't and therefore you are awesome. Something else that may interest everyone is the research being done into the "Cape Mystery Buzzards", as they are dubbed for now. Over the last few years, sightings of buzzards that seem to be hybrids of Steppes and Jackals (I think? Could be Forest...) have been recorded, and breeding pairs have been noted, with juveniles being spotted in one or two areas. My boyfriend will know more on the topic as he's helping with the research into this possible new species. I'll direct him to the thread and hopefully he can elaborate. 
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Sep 11, 2013 09:56
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razz posted:Well, tomorrow my husband and I are going away on our honeymoon! We're kinda doing a desert southwest roadtrip, and camping in Colorado, Zion National Park (Utah), Grand Canyon (Arizona), California, and New Mexico. Possibly also Oklahoma and part of Texas. I'm pretty excited about seeing some new birds! We plan on doing quite a bit of hiking and bird-searching The best honeymoon is where you can bird together! Have fun, and I hope you come back with interesting tales of rare and unknown species that you discovered and then got to name after yourselves.
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Sep 12, 2013 09:05
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