Wow...you saw a Black-Throated Green Warbler??? Was there any indication of a Red-Throated Orange Warbler in the vicinity? How about a Pink-Breasted Purple Warbler? Don't let the sarcasm bug you, as I simply find it incredibly fascinating that folks will spend hundreds of hours scouring the countryside for birds each year. Well, at least it is a healthy habit and invokes an appreciation for nature. Keep on twitching! The Wikipedia link for "birdwatching" contains some fascinating information on famous birdwatchers and I am incredulous at the popularity of it all. Although, some people I know think I'm ridiculous for touring so many zoos each year...c'est la vie.
Snowleopard,
I find this to be one of your most offensive and insensitive posts you've ever made. Unlike your hobby of simply visiting zoos and counting the number of zoos you've visited, birding takes years of practice, skill, and knowledge to become good at. I by no means am a great birder, but I take pride in the skills I've learned. Birds are hard to find, unlike zoos, which, for the most part, are rather stationary and monolithic. It's not just the birds that are involved in birdwatching. An accomplished birder must know habitats, climate, geography, geology, behavior, etc. I take these things seriously and find it rude to demean something that someone has spent years developing and adds to the collective knowledge of the world.
@jbnbsn99: are you being serious or simply pulling my leg? It is difficult to tell with the written word on a forum. I was not attempting to be offensive or insensitive at all, but I said that I found birding to be "incredibly fascinating", a "healthy habit" and that it is "an appreciation of nature". Wow. I suspect that you may just be reading into my post the wrong way but if you are indeed being genuine then I'm very sorry and I would request that you delete both of our comments. Once again, c'est la vie. It is called sarcasm, dude.
@jbnbsn99: are you being serious or simply pulling my leg? It is difficult to tell with the written word on a forum. I was not attempting to be offensive or insensitive at all, but I said that I found birding to be "incredibly fascinating", a "healthy habit" and that it is "an appreciation of nature". Wow. I suspect that you may just be reading into my post the wrong way but if you are indeed being genuine then I'm very sorry and I would request that you delete both of our comments. Once again, c'est la vie. It is called sarcasm, dude.
for what it's worth, while I guessed snowleopard was attempting to be light-hearted in his post, I do agree with jbnbsn99. For someone who has such a fixation on ticking off zoos, to mock others for their hobby simply because you don't understand it is quite remarkable. I would have thought any Zoochat member would well understand extremely focussed hobbies without trying to insinuate there was something wrong with it.
It is rather odd that I never got into bird-watching myself, as I'm somewhat obsessed with numbers. That includes tediously categorizing my 1,200 zoo maps, keeping track of movies that I watch and writing down books that I read. I once met a truck driver who had more than 2,500 tiny "Hot Wheels" cars (all still in their packages) in boxes upon boxes around his house. I also used to be really good friends with a guy who stored comic books by the dozen around his house; he had action figures still in their packages mounted on his walls and at this time of writing he is 40 and is perennially single. The last time I met up with him he joked that as soon as he found a girlfriend he'd sell all of his action figures and retire to paradise.
On this site we all have our obsessions and vices, whether it is watching birds, touring zoos or even collecting "Hot Wheels" vehicles. Even though I'm married with 4 kids (and it seems like all of my time is taken up with being a dutiful husband and father) I still find time every day to research zoos, soccer, movies, etc. I actually worry about a lot of teenagers today, as there are plenty that I know in my profession that have nothing they are obsessed about except for video games. Loads of adolescents, and folks of all ages around the world, are not really into anything and that is a damn shame. I applaud anyone who has a worthwhile hobby that they adore, or a collection of something that they are proud of.
Check out this fascinating link for a look at some bizarre collections, ranging from bellybutton lint to Barbie dolls. Well worth a read:
