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You might be a birder if.....


Kevin

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3 hours ago, Kevin said:

You might be a birder if you have an entire shelf of field guides.

I had to donate some of my old ones that I got started with because they're 20+ years out of date and not useful beyond a curiosity. I kept one because it's decently vintage and interesting to see how they described species before splits. Sibley is still my favorite physical guide for identification; I've got both West and the full guide. I've been thinking about getting the East one so I don't have to haul the full guide with me on a plane.

You might be a birder if you have a hard time deciding which two physical field guides to take with you when visiting relatives for a few days, and whether it's worth bringing the big lens or just the binoculars.

Edited by Zoroark
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4 hours ago, Zoroark said:

You might be a birder if you have a hard time deciding which two physical field guides to take with you when visiting relatives for a few days, and whether it's worth bringing the big lens or just the binoculars.

Who are you kidding?  Have you ever NOT brought the big lens?

Edited by Charlie Spencer
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28 minutes ago, Charlie Spencer said:

Who are you kidding?  Have you ever NOT brought the big lens?

Nah, but someday I'd like to get a compact superzoom that packs easier for quick neighborhood park walks or short family trips with few birding opportunities. It'd also be less of an obvious “hey, they have a valuable object” in seedier areas or when walking on the streets between a parking lot and a hotspot. The latter happened a bit in Newport, Rhode Island, when walking a mile from the marina to the bus depot down busy Thames Street.

Edited by Zoroark
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2 hours ago, Colton V said:

You might be a birder if you get up earlier on your days off than you do when you go to school/work. 

Funny you should mention that...

A rare Common Goldeneye has been reported nearby for the last two days.  I'm at work an hour early today so I can leave while there's daylight to try for it.

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13 hours ago, Zoroark said:

Nah, but someday I'd like to get a compact superzoom that packs easier for quick neighborhood park walks or short family trips with few birding opportunities.

https://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/point-and-shoot-cameras/dc-fz80k

Excellent second camera when the howitzer is too much.  New $350, used under $200.

Edited by Charlie Spencer
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28 minutes ago, Seanbirds said:

You might be a birder if people driving by spot you just laying down on your stomach in some random agricultural field in the dead of winter for hours on end.

You might be a birder if you get stepped on by multiple unaware people while you’re laying down on the beach photographing sanderlings(which are too small for the other people to notice are there, hence their question, “what are you shooting with that lens!?”

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2 minutes ago, IKLland said:

You might be a birder if you get stepped on by multiple unaware people while you’re laying down on the beach photographing sanderlings(which are too small for the other people to notice are there, hence their question, “what are you shooting with that lens!?”

Ah yes, that's the TX alternative for me.

 

At least down in the valley though they realize I'm photographing the Green Jays 😂

Not so with the Olive Sparrows...

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1 minute ago, Seanbirds said:

Ah yes, that's the TX alternative for me.

 

At least down in the valley though they realize I'm photographing the Green Jays 😂

Not so with the Olive Sparrows...

How about the people’s thoughts when they see people with binoculars inside the Brownsville dump looking at mini-crows!!

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On 11/21/2022 at 2:41 PM, Kevin said:

You might be a birder when you can perfectly remember the birds you saw on a trip, but you can't remember a thing about the rest of the trip. 

Related to this....you use your eBird checklists to remember what year vacation trips were taken.  

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Ah, the last few posts reminded me of my father.

You might be a bird photographer if you have a highly detailed log of every single good photo you've taken on a film DSLR (in the days before embedded metadata), including the exact location, shutter speed, f-stop, lens, focal length, film ISO...but not the actual date you took the picture. This made it difficult to date some of the trips we took 20+ years ago.

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