I
know I will sound incredibly old now, but when I was growing up there
was one easy way of learning about birds and their identification. It
was by getting out and talking to birdwatchers. Whenever I came across
one, I walked up to him – it was usually a male –
and asked
if he had seen anything of interest. Quite often, this was the start of
an instructive conversation and sometimes even a friendship. Asking and
listening really was the method of learning that worked for me. It was
about birds and people. That was before Google.
Nowadays, information is much faster and more accurate. It is usually
only a few clicks away. It is even hard to imagine a world without
internet, digital cameras and recorders, online maps, smart phones and
social media. Although the world wide web has made getting into contact
with birders a whole lot easier, I sometimes feel that birding has
become less of an adventure. I now often have real-time information on
who is birding where and what has just been seen. Photographs and
sound-recordings of interesting birds are often shared at the very same
moment. In the old days, you would be happy to see a photograph at all.
Studying the variation shown by a single species and comparing it with
related species requires, in many cases, data from around the world. No
wonder that learning about birds is essentially a team effort. Someone
who knew that like no other was Martin Garner, who started the
well-known ‘Birding Frontiers’ as a place to share
what he
was learning and inspire others to do the same. Surrounded by a team of
well-known birdwatchers from various countries, Martin was –
as
he put it – always discovering. Over the years, he wrote
countless inspiring posts on bird identification on his website. His
‘Frontiers in Birding’ (Garner & friends
2008),
‘Challenge Series: Autumn’ (Garner 2014) and
‘Challenge Series: Winter’ (Garner 2015) are all
very
popular books. I am sure Martin would not have minded me citing from
his recipe for being a great birder: “never lose the wonder
that
captivated your interest in the first place; draw out your own innate
creativity and skills; expect to learn new things every time you go out
birding; cultivate an enquiring mind; set small goals; make mistakes
and know that everybody does; and
above all enjoy it!” Martin died on 29 January
2016. |
