Western Banders Association

In the Spring 2003 edition of the RSPB magazine ‘Birds’ an article by Simon Barnes encouraged people to watch birds regardless of whether or not they could positively identify them. The enjoyment of seeing and watching them should be sufficient. If that means you are thought of by others, as a ‘bad birdwatcher’ then so be it.

The article brought back memories of when, as a very fit 20 something; I was on an exercise in the Scottish Highlands with the RAF. Nearing the top of one of the Cairngorm Mountains I noticed some wee plump birds running around. I mentioned to my party leader that ‘these pigeons won’t find much to eat up here in the snow’ the result, a howl of derision. ‘They’re not Pigeons you fool, they’re Ptarmigan’ Suitably humiliated, and not allowed to forget it for weeks, I determined to become a bit more knowledgeable so off I went and bought a bird book. Equipped with my book and a pair of the team’s binoculars I was ready for battle. During our next few training weekends I positively identified two Andean Condor, three Elanora’s Falcons, four Wandering Albatross roosting in a tree on Ben Alder and a Partridge in a pear tree - that was near Xmas.

The point is, despite the fact that I got it all so horribly wrong, it was something new and quite exciting. As I improved, albeit, very slowly, I could watch and enjoy for ages a circling Golden Eagle, a cock Red Grouse crowing his head off in the early morning, or a Dipper dashing through the streams. Of course I still made mistakes but so what, they were unlikely to appear as headlines in The Scotsman and the mistakes were still worth watching.

Now to the land Down Under where one of our first purchases was a copy of ‘What Bird is That’ This is going to be even more difficult, I thought, all the birds here are roughly the same size. Funny that, I always thought that an Emu would be bigger than a Magpie and a Kookaburra bigger than a Wren considering the noise it makes. Confusion reigned supreme. I still get confused but that’s not unusual when one is on the wrong side of thirty! Eventually, Slater’s guidebooks became available and now there are many others to choose from, making life much easier.

Most birdwatchers make mistakes in identification but does it really matter? Certainly not to the bird which will go on living quite happily as a Red-eared Firetail while you call it a Forty spotted Pardalote. We have a lady across the road that has Ground Parrots in her garden. I find that odd because I have never noticed her garden consisting of thousands of acres of heath. Last week she also saw some Tropic Birds down at Rushy Point. When we queried the Ground Parrots she responded quite forcefully ‘I know my birds’ Why should we disillusion her, as someone once said ‘when ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise’ Let her enjoy her birds, in fact, let us all enjoy our birds, grab your book and bins, get out there and let me know about the Graceful Prinia you see.

PS. You won’t find it in Slater.