Birder Seasoning

I was asked the other day “Do I find seasoned birders intimidating?”

This is an interesting question and frankly my opinion on it has changed considerably in the 9 months I have been birding. Early on I was assuming (very naively) that Merlin was accurate and I would merrily post my results to ebird -- without referring to a bird book, checking the other options that Merlin presented and thinking I was doing really well.

Well the "ebird" police (whom I've come to appreciate and admire) would write to me and let me know the photos I had posted were not a rare bird, but a common one and why. After a few "smackdowns" um... gentile corrections from them I started to check more sources before I posted.

Someone who is a very experienced birder told me early on that it takes years to be a birder. I was taken aback by that, but now I think I understand. Some of these folks have been birding for over thirty years. They don't need a bird book or Merlin to know most any bird - They ARE Merlin in human form. They grew up birding by the book -- and some of them doing even like identifying birds from photographs because you can't see behavior or the whole bird.

Some of them resent the computer-aided birding. I understand that -- birding is not a video game, you don't always have a definitive answer and sometime frankly the bird wins. I have altered my initial approach and research more when I see a new bird, but I still use the electronic assistance - often!

I think it come does to respecting the experts and not have hubris when you first start out. Sometimes it manifests as quashed enthusiasm, but it is a lesson we all need to learn. Enthusiasm is not a replacement for study and experience. I have found the experienced birders to be some of the most intelligent and generous people I have ever met. I am a better birder because their generosity. They have valuable information that isn't in any book.

Zen birding lesson of the day: We all love birds -- for me that is enough.