The members of the Birdfreak Team are self-proclaimed Birdfreaks. Here are 11 ways you can tell if you too are a birdfreak:
- You get up many hours before your job starts just so you can check if any new migrants arrived overnight
- You enjoy identifying birds by sound on television, during movies and also get annoyed by the Colbert Report’s use of a Red-tailed Hawk sound for a Bald Eagle
- No one understands your license plate but birders
- You’ve taken more pictures of birds than pictures of your kids
- Your vacations often involve visiting dumps rather than museums and the only time you’re on the beach is to look for shorebirds (and other birds)
- You stockpile birding magazines no matter how old or how many times you’ve read them just in case
- Your birding gear costs more than your car
- You own more than 20 field guides
- When someone asks “Name someone famous you’ve met” you answer “Kenn Kaufman, Pete Dunne, or David Sibley”
- You listen to podcasts about birds, watch movies about birds, and even dream about birds
- You write a birding blog
If any of these match, you may be a Birdfreak!
Raise hand
I can relate to a few of those but not all.-maybe borderline birdfreak?
OK – I’m guilty of 3 or 4 of them — #s 4, 5 (only half of it – go to beach to look for birds), 6 – yes, I collect/keep all my birding mags, and half of # 11 – my blog is about 50% birding. Does that mean I qualify? ;o)
I don’t match all eleven either… I guess if you feel you’re a birdfreak, you are one. Acceptance is step one 🙂
I definitely don’t fit #7 but I can see where a pair of bins and a scope can start approaching some serious cash!
#9 Will be happening in September!!
– Birdfreak
I match way too many of these… I still need a birding license plate though. I plan on getting one eventually, so that counts.
#1-Sound monitor is first thing that goes on in the morning, even before the coffee! #2, #4 yes. Since starting a blog, #4 certainly applies. #6 yes. #7 I wish. #10 yes – try Beeks A Birding Geek out of Vermont. #11 since April and lovin’ it. Fun list. Thanks!
Patrick – bird plates are great because A) There are many available and B) the funny looks on people’s faces
Zen Birdfeeder – I just subscribed to Beeks A Birding Geek… hadn’t heard of it before so thanks!
If you might be interested in Whooping cranes and the Eastern Introduced Migration now going on, check out ‘Whooper Happenings’, a podcast updated every few weeks. This has been a tough year for these birds, after the storms on February 2nd killed all but one of the flock, and many others have died or been predated this year. They are now flying behind ultralights from Wisconsin to Florida with 17 new Whooper chicks. Arrival should be by mid December if not sooner (we hope), so also check-out the website for Operation Migration at http://www.operationmigration.org; click the ‘In the Field’ link on the left side.
The link for ‘Whooper Happenings’ (listed but didn’t publish above) is: http://www.whitebirds.libsyn.com .