tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post5461921062899269858..comments2024-03-27T13:34:10.184+00:00Comments on NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND: A minute closerSteve Galehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09459545933323958452noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-33724335454986441262020-02-16T12:16:41.164+00:002020-02-16T12:16:41.164+00:00Gav - you are, without doubt, a finder of birds. I...Gav - you are, without doubt, a finder of birds. I hate to think how much you would find if you were as obsessional as some!<br /><br />Bob - I’ve just looked this up. Thanks.<br /><br />Ric - very true. It pays not to dismiss such claims.Steve Galehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09459545933323958452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-59108512544130421412020-02-16T08:51:12.304+00:002020-02-16T08:51:12.304+00:00Steve, you've missed one major element of find...Steve, you've missed one major element of finding rarities, it's the non birding public.<br />How is that so?<br /> It's because even the unobservant pedestrian gets used to what is normal without being aware of it. So when a bird appears out of the ordinary, they sort of notice without understanding why?<br />We hear of someone who says they have a friend who's seen a 'funny looking bird', and it isn't always a 'Jay'. Clearly something subconscious catches the attention.<br />That said, Many birders who became birders did so because a bird caught their attention and held it just long enough for the questions to arrive.<br />Richttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02714117508358025668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-91549666355875490492020-02-15T23:52:03.140+00:002020-02-15T23:52:03.140+00:00Hi Steve
Your penultimate sentence reminds me of a...Hi Steve<br />Your penultimate sentence reminds me of a line in RSTHOMAS'S poem seawatching-in another context though.bob smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00753039327897439191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8802206289996500659.post-78008676847327835482020-02-15T23:38:43.725+00:002020-02-15T23:38:43.725+00:00Steve, the last BB rarity I co-found, I called it ...Steve, the last BB rarity I co-found, I called it as a Richard's Pipit. It was a Blyth's. I might have got there eventually, but my friend twigged what it was before I did. It was very unsatisfying! Unless you count Caspian Gulls, I have been in a rarity-finding drought for many years. In 1982 I was just getting into the swing of being a proper birder and found (or co-found) three BB rarities in three months, two in London, one in Wales. I assumed that this was simply how things were going to be...<br /><br />Wrong.Gavin Haighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17242398421328525578noreply@blogger.com