“Seen anything good?”
-Our Ritual Greeting
It was after about fifteen minutes on the dike at Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area with a pleasant couple from Maryland that I realized that we had managed to have quite a conversation that touched on a variety of topics but managed to not introduce ourselves. We had discussed the birds, parenting, birds, hometowns, birds, weather, birds, and blogging. We had identified probably a score of species but had failed to identify ourselves. And then I said “Oh, my name is Corey” and they said their names and we smiled awkwardly and kept birding. It was nice to have names to attach to their faces, even if I have managed to forget their names now.
There are birders I must have seen in the field a dozen times and I have no idea of their names. We have exchanged pleasantries and birding tips, puzzled over Empidonax identifications and chip notes, and pointed out raptors and wood-warblers. But, somehow, we never got around to sharing our names. And I know that this is not something that happens just in New York City – it seems to be a universal problem in the birding world. Is it because we spend so much brain power identifying birds that we forget to identify ourselves? Is it that birders tend towards the socially awkward end of the personality scale? Or do we just eschew people for birds?
Tangential to this issue is how we will take hundreds of pictures of a rarity but often forget to turn our lenses on each other. I came back from the Midwest Birding Symposium with a scant few images of birders but literally almost a thousand shots of birds. And, arguably, meeting other birders is the main attraction of going such an event. Do our long lenses inhibit portraiture? Are humans too easy to photograph?
Me and two birders for whom I have names – Greg Miller and Christopher Ciccone. Photo by Susan Kailholz-Williams.
I don’t know the answers to any of these questions but I do know my solution to this problem. I am going to be more open in the field and make sure that I introduce myself to birders as often as I can. Sure, sometimes I might still lead with “Seen anything good?” but after the answer I will do my best to make sure that we observe the most basic of human interactions and get names for each other’s faces.
Am I crazy for even thinking this? Is anyone else up for the challenge? We can call it the birder identification challenge and we can all agree to introduce ourselves instead of letting the names of the birds we are seeing stand in for our names. How about it, birding world?
…
Typical scene on the birding trail when Corey meets a couple of birders:
“Hi. My name is Corey.”
Long awkward silent pause.
“I kinda a have a bird blog. Maybe you’ve heard of it. 10000Birds?”
Even longer more awkward pause.
“Do you guys even get online…ever? Sheeesh! If you did, you’d know that I’m kind of a big deal.”
Man puts himself between Corey and his wife and escorts her away,
“Come on Matilda. These bird-bloggers are wackos.”
But in I seriousness, I think we could all be a lot more friendly and identify ourselves in the field. Nothin’ to be shy about.
Hmm, put a little more emphasis on the “community” in the “birding community”? Neat idea!
-Mike
I met a birder at Tawas Point State Park (Michigan) Saturday and discussed the height of dunlins and the winter plumage of eared grebes at length. I even walked back to my car to retrieve Sibley (the book, not the guy) to put her mind at ease about a sighting she had had earlier. And then we said “Good birding!” and parted company. I was already thinking it was odd and perhaps slightly shameful that I didn’t introduce myself, and then this post comes up.
So, if the lady with the Kowa scope and the winter home in Arizona is reading this: Hi, my name’s Kirby.
I introduce myself. Because A. I was raised properly. B. I am effervescent. and C. I’m cute and bubbly and it’s my job to abolish the stereotype of birder as stodgy, socially-inept goons.
I love this!
As an Rver, we meet new people all the time…Most Rvers have a *business card* A card with their photo, names, email address, blog url if they have one.
When at RV rally’s or campgrounds, I try to bring cards with me. You never know when you might hit it off with someone, or want to share information on RV parks or places to visit.
I would suggest the same could be done with birding.
So..I’m in ~I will be bringing my cards with me.~~ Now to go print some up.
I always make a note to learn whatever mad speciality an area has, or failing that dream up a probable but exciting vagrant. When I encounter a birder I always start with “Did you see the ……? It was here just a second ago” or sumesuch.
Never fails…
Birders introduce themselves in the field in Georgia. Both names. And shake your hand. And offer to introduce the children waiting in the car. I wrote a blog post about it. So, I think the next step isn’t to introduce ourselves. We should travel the world studying the social construction of interpersonal networks amongst birders in the field and how they are affected by geographical, ethnic, gender and quality-of-rarity factors. I’m going to write a grant proposal right now. The study will start in Texas.
I also drove down to Cape May for The Bird Show! Great weekend! Anyway, I am a new birder and I did notice that not many introduce themselves. I wrote it off and figured, that’s just the way it is.
I am up for the challenge!! I will be introducing myself from now on! By the way I’m Eve.
These attempts at conversation while birding drive me nuts. Worst is ‘Have you seen anything interesting?’. Depends what interests you … and I haven’t been standing here in the freezing cold for 3 hours in order to provide a free public information service. I go in the field to bird. Period. Having to spend 15 mins of that time talking to an unknown couple from Maryland (or wherever) is a nightmare. If I do see something rare, I do quietly point it out if anyone is around (and I report it as soon as I can). If someone goes up to me with direct information of that type, I do acknowledge it. But conversation – forget it.
When I moved to Heidelberg 3 years ago, I was keen on getting to know some local birders and during a visit to one of the local hot spots (Waghäusel), I always introduced myself whenever I met other birders.
Utter and complete failure!
Me: “Hi, my name is Jochen, I am new to this area. Seen anything good?”
Them: “Nope, quiet day today.”
Me: “Well, thank you and … happy birding trails.”
I introduce myself and converse with other birders whenever possible but when birding in rainforest, the introduction tends to be brief. The reason for that is because seeing lots of birds in this rich, yet challenging habitat necessitates silence and serious focus at all times. Perhaps we should just wear name tags. I would use one for birding in the forest that says, “Hi, my name is Pat. I’m not anti-social, I’m just focused on birds.”
My tag for birding in open habitats would just say, “Pat O’Donnell”. This would hopefully encourage other birders to say, “You must be Pat”, and I would respond, “Yes, that’s me. Where’s your name tag? Oh, you don’t have one? What’s your name then?”
I know, it takes some courage to wear a name tag in public but when it comes to promoting birding, we all need to make sacrifices.
So a fellow on-line bird watcher and I arrange a time and place to meet in person. I’m late getting there, and have no idea who I’m looking for. There are a couple folks about. I say nothing–after all, who knows who I’ve actually arranged to meet in this somewhat remote location? A birder with a scope invites me to take a look at a great horned owl. There’s a bit of small talk, thank you’s, and I leave…
I drop a note on the forum saying I didn’t make contact but met a nice man with a scope.
“That was me. That was you?!”
::face palm::
That was a dozen years ago, so you’d think I’d have learned by now but I still don’t introduce myself. That’s just the way I am. I’m far (far, far–very far) from antisocial but for whatever reason I don’t like handing out my name, be it while birdwatching or on business. Weird, but then I’m that too. ;o)
“HI, I’m Wren. Names have power, so I haven’t given you my true one.” *lol*
I’ve never been a fan of being asked, “Seeing anything good?”
They’re all good. Especially if the light is perfect for photos.
Huge pet peeve of mine. I try to introduce myself as often as possible. It’s not always well received. Especially when folks are looking at a rarity. But I won’t give up.
Like Corey, I have a website (BirdFellow) that I promote as move about the landscape. Part of what we are doing with our site is trying to create a a community. Most of us have an innate desire to be social, but for whatever reason struggle introduce ourselves when we encounter one another in the field. At home in Oregon, the response I typically get when I introduce myself is, “you’re famous,” which generally causes me to look over my shoulder in order to figure out who the heck they are talking about. My “fame” (doesn’t take much these days) is more the result of my profile on the local listserv (Oregon Birders On Line — OBOL) than from my BirdFellow activities. While I hope to attract new BirdFellow users, I don’t aspire to becoming a birding “celebrity.” I’ve spent some time in the midst of actual birding celebrities and it seems that folks all too often go into “we’re not worthy” mode and I’m sure it’s a distraction to be recognized and approached on those days when one wants to simply go birding.