New Age Birds

Yesterday's evening was spent on dog watch which is very loosely termed. In reality it is up there with watching paint dry as Hesper sleeps throughout the day.

Watching a dozing canine I got to wondering what bird watching was all about. Eventually I arrived at the solution.... big business.
The lone man hitch hiking to locate a rare species has been superseded by jet age travel and high tech gadgets as the frantic search for rarities continues at supersonic pace.
Loaded down with the latest very expensive high tec' equipment, satnav, pager and the ubiquitous four wheel drive the New Age birder travels vast distances that the early birder only read about in the Dan Dare article in the Eagle comic.

The halcyon days of tickling trout (no longer allowed) Steam Trains (sadly missed) ,blonde bus conductress' , and conkers have now been replaced by the need for speed, power, money and wishful thinking.

We now jump aboard the electronic highway twittering and blogging letting our far flung reader on some obscure island in the South Pacific know that we saw a Jack Snipe at the waters edge and have the the photographic evidence to prove it.

The only way now to see some of the older reasonably common species and now gradually becoming rare is to go out with an experienced ringer guide and a mist net.

Unlike us the birds have learnt a lesson or two. They now understand the need for speed and have cleared off. The lazy blighters of the bird world have taken up residence just out of sight of rural and urban gardens and as soon as you are off on your weekend jaunt converge and do serious damage to your feeder stock.

Some of the smarter birders now realise you will see more species in your back garden than chasing after the new age speedsters.
Think about what that would do for your carbon footprint and bank balance.