Thursday, October 28, 2021

Birding Agony

That’s me stymied for a few more days, unless I can summon up a blog post for regular readers. 

Warnings highlighting the risk of potential impacts from heavy, persistent rain are in place across parts of southern Scotland and North West England. Parts of these areas will see some large rainfall totals over the next day or two due to a slow-moving weather front with amber and yellow National Severe Weather Warnings in place. Rainfall of 100 to 150mm is likely to accumulate widely throughout parts of Cumbria, with 200 to 250mm across some of the Cumbrian fells.” 

Birding Agony

These amounts of rainfall present a real threat of flooding and people should keep a close eye on flood warnings from the Environment Agency. There may be some disruption to transport, with difficult driving conditions and possible road closures.” 

==================

Meanwhile and in a slightly brighter vein here’s a true story that may or may not result in a happy ending. 

Agony Aunts are for the red top newspapers and glossy magazines and not the birding press - right? 

It appears not as I found a snippet in this month’s copy of Birding Monthly under the column heading - "Ask Dorothy - Birding problems – Advice about ID, Photography, Birding Gear and Personal". 

Suitably intrigued, I read more. At first reading it's an anguished tale but a cheerful ending could be in sight. 

“HELP! My partner’s lost his birding mojo.” 

"DEAR DOROTHY: I first met my partner 3 years ago on a cross country trip to Spurn to twitch a Red-flanked Bluetail. Frank was stood in a line-up of birders scanning for the bluetail. As people moved around chatting I found myself next to this good-looking guy who carried all the latest birding gear. He didn’t seem to notice little me even though I asked him lots of questions about birds, Spurn and Yorkshire in general." 

"I quizzed him about his brand new top-of-the-range-optics and his life list, but at best I received a mumble or two in grudging recognition of my presence. I was impressed though when after a minute or two Frank latched onto the target bird as all the other dudes around just gossiped away. Eventually we grilled the bluetail together as he slowly loosened up enough to chat for a while. After what seemed an eternity he let me raise his monopod and test his Optigrand Super Zoom with Wi-Fi and Smartphone Holder. That was a very impressive piece of kit, I can tell you.” 

“To cut a long story short Frank and I became best buddies, and pretty soon a pair of inseparable lovebirds. But now three years later and after many a shared tick and twitch all over the UK, Frank has mutated into a birder I don’t recognise. He no longer gazes at Birdforum, has cancelled his subscriptions to Rare Bird Alert and Birdwatch magazine and is reluctant to hit the road for new birds. Just recently he joined the RSPB." 

"Last week I had a plane chartered to fly to Shetland for a First for Britain, a Greener-green Warbler (Phylloscopus viridus viridus), but he said “No thanks chuck, I have a survey to complete, and then I need to enter my Birdtrack records on the laptop.  The final straw was yesterday when he 'came out' as being a closet member of the BTO.” 

“What has happened to my Frank? Have I lost my birding soulmate? Is there life after twitching?” “

Betty. Bootle, Merseyside
 
Lovebirds

"DEAR BETTY: My heart goes out to you." 

"Many of us steadfast twitchers are mortified when a valuable member of the birding community is lost to questionable pursuits you describe." 

"It sounds like your Frank is in danger of becoming something we call an 'ornithologist'. It’s a nasty illness that affects the weak-willed and the delusional. Very often such people are loners and ill-adjusted to the social and communal aspects of birding." 

"Try dialogue and compassion. Be tolerant and persuade him of the errors of his ways through displaying how much you still care for him. Try showing him pictures and videos of all the goodies he missed lately: that should bring him to his senses."  

"If all of that fails, and as a last resort I recommend Surveygone™, available from your local chemist. It’s guaranteed to erase all anti-twitching thoughts and to end the compulsion for taking part in bird surveys. It's successful 99.9 per cent of the time. Just put a few drops in his morning coffee for a week or so. He’ll be right as rain and back to normal in no time.” 

Surveygone

"Best Wishes and Good Luck. DOROTHY" 

Betty and Frank - Birders
 
So Dear Friends, you may think that birding is a fun, harmless pursuit, but there are hidden dangers. Birding can result in real tears, broken relationships, and having to seek professional advice from complete strangers.

Don't say you haven't been warned.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni in Texas.


 

14 comments:

Angie said...

Phil - if this is the post we can expect when torrential rains fall in your region, let the rains forever cease!!! We are in the UK at the moment, visiting my in-laws near Durham, and our plans to walk near Ambleside were dashed by the forecasted rain. Now we can say we truly came "home".

Breathtaking said...

Hello Phil,:=) You know how to tell a humorous story. Once again, you had me laughing out loud

So sorry about your bad weather conditions, it does look as though the heavy rainfall will prevent you from birding and ringing for some time to come.I hope there will be no flooding.

It started raining here this evening, the first rain in a long time. At the moment it is,how do you say, raining cats and dogs! :=)

eileeninmd said...

Hello Phil,

LOL, I enjoyed reading Betty and Frank's story. I am sticking to the Birding is fun, no pressures. We have had a day and a half day of rain, I am looking forward to some sunshine. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy weekend.

Shiju Sugunan said...

Perhaps an ornithectomy surgery may help :))

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

I'm sorry you've had so much rain too but you put your time to good use! lol I got the hiking bug before my husband and then he did...luckily we have the same bug now! lol....I lol a lot it seems. But you understand! Enjoyed your post!

Wally Jones said...

Truly a modern birding story.

I was one of the lucky ones, having become interested in "bird watching" long before technology told us how it should be done.

At least now, one has only to seek advice "online" to cure all that ails her/him.

Thank you so much, Phil, for yet another timely public service announcement.

(Fingers crossed for your weather to improve. Just check the online weather app .... never mind.)

Linda said...

LOL! Cute story.

Stay safe and dry.

Anni said...

Shiju has the answer!! Beware Frank...Dorothy just may schedule an appointment for you.

I know all to well about days and days of rain. Hope all comes to an end for you soon and out birding you go.

Thanks for linking in this week.

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

I think I missed some of the finer details in your story due to lack of knowledge but it was cute. Poor Dorothy and Frank!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I live in an area of the US that could seriously use rain as we are suffering a bad drought which makes fire danger high. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the weather could be controlled more uniformly whenever there is a need? Meanwhile, I hope your weather improves soon!

Fun60 said...

That's a sad , sad tale. Let's hope the medication does the trick. With your vast experience of birders maybe you could start up your own agony column for depressed rain drenched birders.

NCSue said...

I like Fun60's idea of you starting an agony column - it would give you a safe, dry activity for soaking squelchy days!
Thanks for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-return-of-butterfly.html

Photo Cache said...

LOL!

Worth a Thousand Words

Veronica Lee said...

Hope the weather improves so you can continue to delight us with your birding adventures, Phil.

That was a cute story to read!

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