Are you a Birder?

Are you a birder?

Ok, so you like seeing and hearing birds.  Maybe you have some bird feeders, a few bird identification books, and a binocular or two.  You know a Bluebird from a Blue Jay, and you even keep a list of birds seen around home.  So, are you a birder?

Perhaps you are someone who has a paying job studying birds.  You’ve banded thousands of birds.  You can stand in your back yard before daylight in the early fall and tell the difference between warblers, thrushes and sparrows migrating overhead.  You can the difference between male and female Yellow Warblers in formative plumage.  Are you a birder?

Maybe you are one of the thousands of people who enjoy going birding locally, who love telling stories about birds, and who spend a little money buying birding gear once in a while.  You’ve got at least a couple of friends who will go birding with you if you call them.  Are you a birder?

How do you know if you are a birder?

Birders don’t need to get a license.  They don’t need to pass a course or graduate from birder school.  There are lots of things somebody does NOT have to DO to BE a birder.  For some people being a birder means more than just going birding because they think of being a birder as a “way of life” and as an expression of “who I am.”  People don’t become something  overnight.  It takes time and effort, overcoming challenges, having lots of fun,  and ultimately building the characteristic traits associated with being that something.  So, what about you; are you a birder?  Are you becoming a birder?  Do you want to become a birder?