I don’t expect I’ll ever be among the birding elite.
As much as I love to sit and watch them (the birds, not the elite), or go on field trips, or visit a zoo, or take photos, I’m never going to master the fine points of identification. I don’t want that skill enough to give up any other activity I do for pleasure or sustenance. Without freeing up the time to bird much more often, and more widely than I do now, I don’t imagine I’ll build and maintain those skills. Practice makes perfect, and without practice, expertise as well as perfection eludes me.
In some ways, I’m jealous of those who have managed to combine their work and their passion for nature or birds. But truth be told, I like my great outdoors liberally interspersed with indoor plumbing, hot coffee, and other modern conveniences. Not a characteristic of great birders or successful nature entrepreneurs, putting me firmly in the “don’t give up your day job” category.
Which brings me to the American Birding Association (ABA). Its recent crisis took me by surprise since the organization has been irrelevant to me for many years and I have paid it little attention. Although I know and continue to meet delightful, warm, welcoming birders who are ABA members, I also encounter many who to me epitomize all that makes the organization unappealing: arrogance, impatience, narrow focus, exclusivity, and rudeness.
So you might wonder why I’m considering rejoining.
So do I.
But I am.
People whose opinion I respect – Mike Bergin, Nathan Swick, Kenn Kaufman, and the new ABA president, Jeff Gordon – all are invested in the organization, in changing it, and in making it successful. That’s a powerful recommendation. They are people I trust, and I believe they are sincere in what they say about change and big tents. I want to support their efforts.
So why am I hesitating?
Because I don’t know if I belong in this organization. Is “inexpert birder” an oxymoron, especially if you have no drive to change the lack of expertise? Am I a birder, or “just” a birdwatcher? Do birdwatchers belong in the new ABA any more than in the old one? Am I welcome, or just my membership dollars? And selfishly, what do I get from belonging to ABA that I don’t get from belonging to the Audubon Society? or supporting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology? or joining a state or regional organization?
I don’t expect explicit answers to any of these questions, and besides, what the ABA does will be much more important in my decision making than what it, or any of its representatives, says. While I’m wavering intellectually, emotionally I know I want to rejoin. Community is important to me. That’s why I’m part of the Nature Blog Network, Skywatch, and MyWorld, it’s why I go to festivals where my friends will also be attending, and ultimately, why I blog. I’ll learn in time whether I can be part of the ABA community while remaining a perpetual beginning birder.
What do you think?
{ 15 comments }
It’s an interesting – and tough – question, Wren. I do feel that ornithological and birding groups have a tendency to target the experienced and expert birders more than the beginners, perhaps in part because the folks at the top of the organization, who have the passion to run it, are themselves expert birders.
Although I would place myself close to that category, in terms of skill, I fall short when it comes to the tricky stuff. Gulls and peeps? Eih. I’ve just never had the drive to really learn them.The only list I keep these days is my yard list; even my life list has long since fallen by the wayside – and even when I kept it up to date, I never went out of my way to add to it. I don’t chase rarities, unless they happen to be in my immediate neighbourhood. And so, as with you, those notes on tricky identification or rarities or listing news, they all bore me. I was a member of the ABA for a year, mostly for their publication. I didn’t renew.
I’m now editor of the Ontario Field Ornithologists’ newsletter (one of two publications they have). It’s a tough balance, trying to collect content that will hopefully be interesting and relevant to the majority of members. With our photo quiz, we’ve started cycling through easy, intermediate and difficult identifications. I try to avoid delving into listing, rarities, etc, and focus more on the joy of birding, birding events or programs, bird conservation news, etc.
I get virtually no feedback one way or the other from the membership, but I hope that means I’m not doing a bad job of it (since usually the negatives are much more vocal than the positives). It’s not easy, but with the right people up front, I do think an organization can appeal to a wide majority. With Jeff Gordon at the helm now, I think they have a good chance of getting there.
What would convince you to rejoin, Seabrooke? If Jeff can lead the organization in a more widely relevant direction, is that sufficient inducement to support ABA and its new leadership? For me to rejoin would be both a leap of faith and a vote of confidence. I’m not enthusiastic about the first, but the second may lead me to leap anyway.
Well…. a better income would help.
There are lots of places I would dearly love to support if only I had the available cash to do so. That aside, what I mostly join organizations for, beyond simply supporting a good cause, is the publications. If it’s a matter of choosing between several equally good causes, I’ll go with the one with the best publication. I know I’m not going to participate in anything else they offer. ABA has always published a high-quality magazine, but going forward it would need to be something that appeals to all levels of birders, not just the hard-core, the lister-types, the super-experts. And also not just about birding, the pasttime. I would want to read more about birds in general and conservation and such. Presumably a shift in their magazine’s coverage would reflect a shift in the philosophy of the organization as well.
Good Morning, Wren. Never a joiner, I share your thoughts and concerns. I watch and listen carefully when the opportunity presents itself, read when curiosity bubbles up, pay attention when I am out and about, but I know full well that I will always be a humble beginner. However, it is how I enjoy ,not just birding, but all other aspects of exploring the natural world. And that’s okay. I applaud those who have made it their life, those that have made it a game, and those who embrace the cause. Join the ABA? Why?
It seems I am a joiner, though I’ve never thought of myself that way. So I might join ABA because I know a lot of people who are supporters and who are excited about building a renewed organization. At the same time, I have the same question as you – why? How will ABA 2.0 contribute to conservation, education, and other aspects of the greater good? and regardless of what it gives back to the world, what activities will it have that I will enjoy or benefit from?
I don’t suppose it matters a great deal either way, but I’m somewhat curious to see how it all turns out.
Hi Wren, Thanks for a thought-provoking post. I am a blithe pre-beginner, newly aware of some of the issues you mention. I hope you’ll keep us posted.
It’s a sad commentary on the state of the organization in the recent past that I gave ABA no thought at all until I began to hear about the scandal.
You captured my feelings on this as well. I really like and respect those names you mentioned along with Birdchaser Rob Fergus. I want to pay my dues just for their sake, but I still hesitate wondering what I get from it more than a magazine that I may or may not enjoy reading. I did make a decent sized donation to Cornell because I enjoy and use what they produce, like eBird and All About Birds. I think I’ll sit back a couple more months and see where the ABA is going before I send any money.
I’ve debated the wait-and-see approach myself, and haven’t come to a decision. There are so many worthwhile organizations that could use our support! The difference in my mind, at present, is that I think of CLO as an organization I donate to, because I admire their work and want to support it, but I think of ABA as an organization I join, and therefore expect to get some value for myself.
Haven’t fully thought that through, but I have a mix of both in my “organizational portfolio.”
Hi Wren, you said it very well. Most birders, I think, are just like you, doing it because it makes them happy, not as a life-consuming passion. In my small world I haven’t met any others. I was thinking of the ABA as a lobbying organization that represents the interest of birders in the larger world and because of that have been a member. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I ought to get more involved, or pay more attention, but life is so full of things, such as reading and leaving comments on the blogs I am following, reading my Facebook page and Twitter, and of course writing my own blog, that there is little time to fritter away on activities about which I am not passionate.
Cheers and good birding!
Wren, just wondering why there is no blurb advertising my last post below my comment:-(?
Hilke
I don’t know. Ironically, there is one after this comment.
I use the CommentLuv plugin to do this.There’s a CommentLuv logo and box at the bottom of the comment form. It should be checked by default, but you might want to make sure before you click submit.
Well said, Hilke. I’m interested that you think of ABA as a lobbying organization, when I never think of that as part of what they do. They must be the stealthiest lobbyists in DC!
Very good post. I tend to be one too busy to get too involved in different groups. I go to spots and occasional walk with our local audobon that I have met some wonderful folk who have almost universally been very generous and helpful. I wish work did not take up so much time so I could be more involved with my local groups and on a larger level too. The BwBTC group , twitter, blogging and to a smaller extend FB birders has been a wonderful community feel.
I never got the impression that birders should be at a certain level to be in/involved with ABA, but I am also a beginner and a bit naive perhaps. Anyone enjoying birding whether in the backyard, at the park/shore to me deserves to be part of the birding community. It is supposed to be fun, some like listing, some just looking at the pretty bird; both are birders. Whatever your decision, it should be based on what works best for you.
my early morning thoughts. cheers
dan
Thanks, Dan. You make several good points, including basing the decision on what works for me.
ABA as a membership organization has always been open to all. However, when I was a member before, I lost interest because the focus of the organization became listing and esoteric, “difficult” identifications. When you’re still learning to sort out your peeps and gulls, differentiating between two subspecies of small passerine isn’t particularly relevant, helpful, or interesting.
It’s true that no organization can be all things to all people, even all potential members. I’m fine with that. If the ABA chooses to be an organization for those who have or want to develop highly honed identification skills, keep and compare lists, and chase rarities, so be it. We’ll part ways once more, amicably.
However, doing so should be a conscious, intentional decision on the part of the organization, because it closes the door to it being THE American Birding Association – the big tent that welcomes all birders.
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