Today at school, on the way to my Geography lesson, I saw two birds, one chasing the other, I walked over to where they landed, and one flew away. Someone said something to me, I turned around and there was a teacher standing right behind me, asking me what I was doing, I said "I'm observing a bird". I didn't half get a strange look. When I say I'm a birdwatcher, some people think I'm really strange, and some people treat me differently from everyone else, because I'm a birdwatcher and I'm extremely passionate about the the environment. I don't like it.
Anyway after the teacher went, I continued observing the bird, which I couldn't get a clear view of because it was in the ivy, it eventually emerged, it was a treecreeper, I was very happy because I hadn't seen one for a while. It was odviously searching for a nest site, which is why it had a rival.
I got to about a metre of it, and thought, if I had my camera and a tripod, I could have got some fantastic photos, and some amazing close ups. Yet of course I didn't have my camera because I was at school, I wouldn't have taken it anyway even if it mean't some amazing photographs, because a camera is a very important piece of kit I wouldn't trust people if I had it at school.
What a great day, other than getting some strange looks from people.
7 comments:
I hate the way people treat Birdwatchers and the like differently, it's stupid!
Thanks for the comment Anna, i'm glad you like my photo's.
I too have problems at school with being the only birdwatcher there. I just ignore them or point out the stupidity of living off their playstations.
cheers
steve
Hi Anna.
Thanks for visiting my site and leaving a nice comment.
I really love your Blog !
I'm going to put it in my favourites .
Don't worry about what people think about birdwatchers. I don't get how people are NOT interested in the Nature all around us! How can you not be ! :-)
Cheers
Nick
The fact that you saw something that no-one else did makes it very special. You were given a brief moment to watch a wild creature, and slowly you learn more about it.
If you keep your interest and your love for watching wildlife it will mean that whatever you do in life - wherever you go in the world - whatever job you have - you can look around you and take a delight from seeing things that most other people miss. You'll never get bored. It might be the majesty of an ancient tree in winter without any leaves. It may be the simple beauty of a lacewing on your finger, or a party of swifts screaming overhead. Or a plain old rock on the ground with 300 million years of history behind it. Finding these interesting may well make you different from some of your friends, but everyone's different, and there's lots of us who think exactly the way you do.
I love your blog, and I'll be back to see what other wonders of nature you discover.
Nick M.
Keeper of Natural Sciences,
Derby Museum & Art Gallery.
Hi, Anna, thanks so much for your comment. Also, I managed to capture my first Tree Creeper (Brown Creeper) on February 29th and posted it to my blog. Also, I sympathize with you feeling belittled by those who are not birdwatchers. I can no longer feed birds and photograph in our back yard because of it and miss it dearly.
Brenda
(In response to your comment of my Tree Creeper) Yes. That's the Creeper! I gave the photo to my husband to take to the school where he works and he showed it to the elementary children and they enjoyed it, saying "I see him!"
When I took a photography course, the teacher asked everyone in the class what they were planning
to photograph and when it was my turn, I said "nature and wildlife" and she rolled her eyes and said,
"We get a lot of that in New Jersey". I am definitely learning how to deal with people.
I have a professional photographer friend who is very mature and I noticed that he is very quiet.
He stays back and waits until others approach him, he is very courteous, brief and to the point and what I admire about him most is that he never, ever says one negative thing about another person or another photographer.
When I encounter certain situations with people, I keep trying to remind myself of how my friend
responds and how his demeanor actually demands respect, which is great.
Learning to deal with people as we improve our nature photography skills is really is an interesting topic
in itself!
Hi Anna,
People who bird watch aren't strange, it's the ones who don't you should worry about. Bird watchers are also better at taking care of the planet.
My garden is full of birds mainly siskins, goldfinches, blue tits and chaffinchs which i photograph and feed and i wouldn't be without them. Some of the pics on are the isle of man birding site, that's where i live.
Keep up your blog and ignore those that don't understand. It's their loss not yours.
B
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