Hi, I was wondering what are peoples thoughts on the masses of twitchers who descend upon rare and unusual - but often exhausted birds.
A prime example is the appearance of a Black throated Thrush in west Yorkshire.
I am a member of various photography websites - and the amount of images appearing of this bird is alarming.
It must spend most of it's time flying away people eager to ''tick it off'' when it would be far better served trying to survive a very cold Winter in a strange place.
This isn't a dig at the twitchers, it just seems to me that sometimes they forget that the bird's welfare should ALWAYS come first.
''EDIT'' please note I mean '' twitchers'' not ordinary birders!!:)
Jimbob
Hi Kathy and Dave, quick reply before bed!
That story is shocking but not really surprising unfortunately.
I once saw a very close image of a Scops Owl taken in the UK at night with a full flash....says it all really:(
I'm sure there are responsible twitchers as well to be fair,
People with a genuine passion for the birds
But it's people such as the ones you described who go too far that spoil it for everyone else.
Susan H said: Personnally, I prefer to sit in my personal hide - my own home - and observe the private lives of my garden birds. I feel very priviledged, and there is always the chance of a new arrival. Second to that, just walking round the local countryside, river banks, or visiting estuaries and seeing what turns up is enough for me. But that's just me.
Personnally, I prefer to sit in my personal hide - my own home - and observe the private lives of my garden birds. I feel very priviledged, and there is always the chance of a new arrival. Second to that, just walking round the local countryside, river banks, or visiting estuaries and seeing what turns up is enough for me. But that's just me.
You are not alone there Sparrow, I am exactly the same. In fact I never go outside to photograph my garden birds when they are feeding because for me to do so would disturb them. All my photos (except for the red kite ones where they are flying way above my head) are taken from indoors. Because they are used to me doing that, even if they see the camera lens through the glass it doesn't spook them. Indeed the majority seem to regard it as some kind of sport on the lines of "Oooh look, she's got that thingy again, let's pose until it stops making funny noises and then fly off". The result is a number of photos of birds' rear ends as the "funny noise" is the telephoto getting itself into focus and the ensuing silence is when I am about to press the shutter button!
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
It looks like everyone here is under the same impression; the bird's interests come first and if you don't see anything well that's that. Actually I have been to The Lodge, Lake Vyrnwy and Sandwell Valley and other than at the feeding stations I can honestly say I have hardly seen anything...or at the very least nothing I couldn't have seen in my garden! maybe I walk round with my eyes shut, who knows, lol!
When I visited Sandwell Valley on New Years Day I heard a man mention how he was at a reserve where a rare visitor (I forget what the bird was) was that close to the people trying to photograph it as there lenses were too big, so they started throwing stones at it so it would get further back! To me such behaviour is totally disgusting, people like that have no regard for the bird's welfare and just want a photo.
My dad's business partner has a pager which pages him when something unusual has been reported and he will drive miles to see it - skipping work to do so, much to my dad's annoyance. Personally I don't see the fascination!
Sitting in the conservatory watching 'my' birds gives me more pleasure. These are usually my daily visitors, going about their business, I see them rain or shine and they never let me down, I've watched them raise their families and bring them with them. I sort of feel like I know them and just to sit and spend time watching them in my garden brings me more joy than I could get from trying to "tick off" something else :o)
Seeing anything, anywhere, is a joy! If something slightly unusual turns up in the mean time, then it's a bonus of course, but I wouldn't down tools and shoot halfway across the country to see a 'mega' or a 'lifer' as twitchers do! Having said that, if I did hear of waxwings turning up in Shropshire, not too far away, then I would try & get there the next weekend to see if they were still about, but as others have said, it would be with respect for the birds and causing them as little disturbance as possible!
Just seen a flock of around 200 lapwing fly over the office! :-) Lovely!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
I'm so glad people realise that when I use the word ''twitchers'' I mean the obsessive types, and not the ordinary birders or birdwatchers
I think sometimes that term is used too loosely by the layman to include anyone who enjoys birds, or enjoys looking at birds.
In saying that, I myself would happily be described as a twitcher, as long as people realise that I'm a lover of birds - rather than a lover of statistics!!
Thanks for the response to my first post on this forum, the replies have proved what I already suspected - you're a nice bunch:)
I'm also surprised and quite shocked to learn that this is what 'twitchers' do. I never realised that it was anything like this. I love to just sit on my bird watching chair at home and see what visits my garden and take whatever photos I can get. I don't have a particularly long lens on my camera, just a 100-300mm zoom, and I get what I can with it through my study window.
I typed in black throated thrush so that I could have a look at it, and whilst I apreciate that it might be very rare and attractive enough, for me it doesn't have the real wow factor of some of the more common well coloured birds.
Just as an aside when looking at some of the pics I was amused by the fact that most of the captions mention the amount of expensive equipment used, and then you get to one who used a Coolpix 4500 and had a couple of great shots. It just goes to show doesn't it :-)
Best wishes Chris
Click Here to see my photos
Rockwolf said: Seeing anything, anywhere, is a joy! If something slightly unusual turns up in the mean time, then it's a bonus of course, but I wouldn't down tools and shoot halfway across the country to see a 'mega' or a 'lifer' as twitchers do! Having said that, if I did hear of waxwings turning up in Shropshire, not too far away, then I would try & get there the next weekend to see if they were still about, but as others have said, it would be with respect for the birds and causing them as little disturbance as possible! Just seen a flock of around 200 lapwing fly over the office! :-) Lovely!
Same here, if I see something I see it if I don't I don't. Though if I hear there is a basking shark off the coast around here I'll be sitting on a cliff hoping to see it swim by lol One was at the coast where I was the day AFTER I had been there, I was so annoyed lol Not that you can really disturb a shark in the sea sitting on a cliff.
Perhaps there needs to be similar protection like is afforded to marine life? When it comes to approaching marine life certain rules should be followed to reduce the chances of harm or too much stress being placed on that animal. With sharks I believe it is only permitted to remain with an individual for about 10 minutes, and there are similar rules for cetaceans though as they are fairly likely to investigate a boat or bow ride the rules are a bit different though still along the same lines. Anyone that throws stones or chases any animal should be reported for doing so, especially if it is for something as stupid as a photo. I love photography, as many of you will know, but a photo taken in a manner which causes harm or distress to an animal is not something I would want to show off. Photographing any animal should be done with the animals welfare coming first - no flash, no doing something to get the animal to do something to give a good photo, minimise time spent with the animal etc There are plenty of animals in captivity that can offer those types of photo opportunities if that is all someone is after!
Millie & Fly the Border Collies