The Oxford Dictionary defines sport as: “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” Birding qualifies – no really.
Physical Exertion – Yes! Although it can be done more casually, serious birding requires hiking, carrying equipment and chasing birds. Check!
Skill – Yes! Even though I don’t have much skill yet, it is pretty clear that it requires a good deal of competence to bird well. Out of the 400 birds that have been seen in Rhode Island in the last 10 years, I can probably identify 40 of them at a glance. The rest of them I need to photograph and study. There are birders out there who have all 400 by a glance. I can only aspire to that at this point. So Skill – Check.
Individual or Team – It is an individual sport, but at times it is very cooperative. The other day I had a birder I had never met call me over to see a rarity that he had found. We’re both keeping lists, but and in effect competing, but the generosity of the birder wins! Check!
Compete against one another for entertainment – The competition is very entertaining and good natured, but there is a winner. Check!
It is not a professional sport, although the best in breed (Big Year and Local) are known and admired by all birders. It is a sport where a novice like me can actually spend time birding with the “big boys” or girls. That act of generosity has allowed me to learn a great deal in a short period of time. Where does that happen in professional sports other than in an expensive sports camp? I would submit, nowhere.
Birding is a unique sport, but sport nonetheless. The photos today are some of the playing fields.
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