This is not a personal comment to Steve or any other individual or about any particular bird species. I’m just using Steve’s message as an example. If the purpose of the “tick” is a survey of a site and a legitimate need to know about the distribution of particular species, yes that is important but not whether person A has it on their life / year / place / whatever list. This message is a comment on the idea that a bird list of itself becomes some kind of contest or somehow important, which might be fun but beyond that, I think is a load of twaddle. I have been bird watching as my major interest for 40 + years. Can someone explain why it matters or more importantly explain why anyone else’s list matters?
As Steve writes “My bird list, My rules!” Therefore I am happy for him but the truth is I don’t care. I care a bit that Yellow-throated Hanging Parrots exists somewhere but whether or not Steve’s list includes them is of nil concern to me (and that is not being unfriendly).
What I do care about is whether they are capable of flying at 400 miles an hour. That is something of interest because it is about the bird, not the list. But I suspect a bit of artistic licence there.
Philip
