I am a frustrated birder, or birdwatcher, if you want to call me that. Months ago I saw my 500th species. I have not had a new bird since then. Maybe it is time to retire, but I don't think so.
Bird-watching is a new term, born in 1901. Birding is an old term... Shakespeare wrote in "The Merry Wives Of Windsor"......'She laments, sir...her husband goes this morning a-birding.'
A new term was introduced to me this week, though it is not really new. It is "twitching". Twitching was the nervous behavior of a British birder of the fifties, Howard Medhurst. Twitching also refers to persons who chase rare birds, and those who accumulate long lists of birds.
Lynn Barber, a Fort Worth attorney is recognized in the headlines of the Caller Times this Saturday. January 1 of 2008 she saw a common loon in South Texas. By December 31 of last year she had seen 721 other bird species around the state and country and into Canada! That is quite a feat. I have seen 500 in my lifetime. She saw over 700 in a single year! To get that many she had to be a TWITCHER. She chased rare birds whenever and wherever they were heard of. She had 650 species by August 1. Her venture put 39000 miles on her car. There were many more air miles and expenses. She doesn't yet know what it cost her. On January 1 of this year she was in Rockport, birding with some friends. She isn't doing it again soon. Will there be a book of her quest? Probably. That way other bird-hungry adventurers will help pay for hers.