Are twitchers mean?

[RobS]

I've just read in the latest version of Birding World that 520+ twitchers who turned up to see an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler in Yorkshire (and probably parked on land owned by a farmer who kindly set aside space for them) donated a whopping £640 to charity. That's £1.23 per twitcher - how tight is that?!

Rob S

[Gatekeeper]

Exceptionally .

[accipter]

I don't know about that but I did read somewhere that some of these twits are chasing the birds so much that they are dying' by preventing them feeding rare birds as well is there any truth in that.

[RobS]

Can you rewrite that in English please - or at least with some punctuation

[solus]

Originally Posted by accipter

I don't know about that but I did read somewhere that some of these twits are chasing the birds so much that they are dying' by preventing them feeding rare birds as well is there any truth in that.

Very little if any! There will always be one or two bad ones in a crowd - akin to the handful of troublemakers in a stadium full of football fans - but twitchers by and large "police" themselves.

If I've translated your post correctly, then "twitchers" are not going to be "chasing the birds" of common species anyway so no problems there - far more disturbance is caused by "ordinary" people going about their daily lives, like walking the dog in fields and woods. Many rare birds (ie, vagrants) are unable to feed as there is no suitable food for them, for example we (in the UK) do not have the "right" caterpillars for American cuckoos; some will be so disorientated and exhausted after their accidental journeys they may simply be too tired to feed and are close to death anyway (for example, the freshly-dead Rufous-tailed Robin found recently on Orkney). Some birds may be in poor health and have such a low bodyweight after their travels they don't have much chance of survival anyway and many also seem to get taken by enterprising local Sparrowhawks which seem to be able to detect an exotic "take-away" from great distances! Oh, and for every rarity that reaches our shores and is found and may become the subject of a "twitch", many, many more will have died en route, in the ocean somewhere. Sad, but true.

[accipter]

I don't know about that but I did read somewhere, that some of these twitchers are chasing the birds so much that they are dying by preventing them from feeding. Rare birds as well. Is there any truth in that. Does that please sir.

[solus]

Sorry, I seem to have gone off topic a bit with my last reply. On the whole, I don't think twitchers are mean. Everybody has to be more careful with their money nowadays and travelling to see a bird costs so much more in real terms than it did say 20 years ago when £10's worth of petrol would have gone a long way.

You only have to look at how much has been raised by "tick-box" collections at various times in the past to see how much local charities have benefitted. The Oriental Pratincole (1993) and White-crowned Sparrow (2008) in Norfolk come to mind when a substantial amount money was raised for (respectively) medical equipment and church restoration. Whether it be a local nature reserve or the charity of choice of the landowner that benefits, all such money is a bonus that wouldn't have been donated at all were it not for the presence of a rare bird! I trust the charity that gained to the tune of £640 isn't being ungrateful?!

[RobS]

Top of the class. Sorry I felt I could answer your question but wasn't quite sure what you were asking, however the more talented solus has done a grand job.

I think there has been some harrying (is that the right spelling?) which may have knackered some visitors (I vaguely remember someone upsetting a Bridled Tern in the early 1980s) but I agree with Solus - everyday stuff is in far more danger. Not far from me is the wonderful New Forest and there's a lot of disturbance there from walkers (almost spelt correctly) dog walkers (again) and the race of people who own the earth (commonly known I have been reliably informed) as cyclists (you can recognise them quite easily because they are colour blind where red is involved).

If you think humans can ruin a bird's life I remember the famous Pagham Trumpeter Finch being taken much to the chagrin of the twitchers by a Sparrowhawk (exotic tastes obviously) and more recently (week before last I think) a Sparrowhawk took a Black (or White Winged Black) Tern at Keyhaven.

Rob S

[larachmor]

Originally Posted by accipter

I don't know about that but I did read somewhere, that some of these twitchers are chasing the birds so much that they are dying by preventing them from feeding. Rare birds as well. Is there any truth in that. Does that please sir.

I didn't hear of any twitchers dying!!

[accipter]

Oh! you are a funny boy Bill but anything is possible.