![]() ![]() The most important thing is a pair of binoculars - one purchase can last a lifetime and there’s no need to get the fancy ones. “It is a really accessible hobby,” says Mulvihill. He keeps a blog replete with beautiful photos of his sightings.īut whether it’s birding or birdwatching, DeReamus, Mulvihill, and Ruffner agree that enjoying birds is something anyone can do. His recent post-retirement adventures include zooming to Rhode Island for a rare Terek Sandpiper, and a road trip to Arizona for an Eared Quetzal and a Berylline Hummingbird. “It’s a real big part of what do,” he says of birders’ devotion to the chase. ![]() Rose-breasted Grosbeak / photo: Dave DeReamus His yard is full of feeders and native plants to draw feathered friends.ĭeReamus, meanwhile, is a birder through and through: He estimates that he’s in the top 100 in the country as far as the number of birds spotted on his life list. “But the majority of the birds I’m seeing, I’m bringing them to me,” a key birdwatcher distinction. I take walks all the time in my neighborhood, around the Discovery Center, and in Fairmount Park,” he says. Damien Ruffner, Discovery Centerĭamien Ruffner, the education manager at Philadelphia’s Discovery Center, a nature preserve on the edge of an old reservoir in Fairmount Park, places himself firmly in the birdwatcher category. If people get a bird in the view on their own pair of binoculars, that’s life-changing…when I hear gasps, that’s my measure. “Folks down in, literally on hearing there’s a major rarity in Erie County, they’ll be there the next morning.”Īcross Pennsylvania, both kinds of bird-lovers flourish. Birders, on the other hand, are always hunting for something. “Birdwatchers are happy to see what’s in front of them,” he continues. People began to add structure and competitive aspects to birdwatching.Īccording to Mulvihill, “In the span of my lifetime, we went from being happy to be called ‘birdwatchers’ - and being teased from time to time - to insisting that we’re ‘birders.’” “I think that birdwatchers became a little bit self-conscious - that activity was equated with little old ladies in tennis shoes and funny hats,” “When I was growing up, what I did was called birdwatching,” says Robert Mulvihill, the ornithologist at Pittsburg’s National Aviary. “ came to the hummingbird feeder before I closed the window back up.” Ruby-throated Hummingbird / photo: Dave DeReamus ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |