Let’s get to the real people of the avian community. Maybe one must start at the beginning and say that birding is a sport/activity which anyone in the world can do. If you ask the average person (always wondered what an average person is, sounds pretty derogative), how many birds he can identify, he will most likely say none. When you start asking him if he knows what a dove, swallow, mossie, crow, owl, Guineafowl, weaver, Ostrich, Dust chicken (see Karlien) is, you can get to 10 very quickly and suddenly he can call himself a birder.
Even more interesting, when you ask people if they can identify a bird call, you will be surprised that their score will be even higher. Imagine knowing the call of a Fish Eagle, dove, Guineafowl, Go-Away-Bird, Spotted Eagle Owl, Diederik Cuckoo, lapwing and many more, you can almost call yourself an expert. I must confess my knowledge of the different bird calls leaves much to be desired. The above-mentioned are about the full range of calls I can identify. If you can master the art of bird-call identification, you are again almost a professional birder.
According to an article I recently read in Africa – Birds & Birding they classify birders in five categories. World Listers, Budget Birders, Balanced Birders, Leisure Birders and Explorer Birders. I found my own classification much more applicable, easier to use and much more impressive:
1. At the bottom of the ticking list are the plebeians, in rugby terms, the wynspan. They still make some basic mistakes like calling a Helmeted Guineafowl a Dust Chicken, a Pygmy Goose a Water Chicken, an Egyptian Vulture a Meat-eating Chicken, a Malachite Kingfisher a Small Fish Chicken, a Darter an Underwater Chicken, a raptor a Danger Chicken, a Pell’s Fishing Owl a Night Water Chicken; shore birds are Beach Chickens, penguins are Funny Chickens etc. My daughter Karlien is the current president of this society.
2. Once you have passed grade zero you advance to the group who have bought their first bird book, and obviously you must be on a higher level now. You know quite a lot of birds and even start arguing with co-birders about the identity of a call or sighting. Soon you will buy your first pair of binoculars and, as you can imagine, you are in a very dangerous group. Pretty much like Group 1, but without realising you are making a fool of yourself. Nevertheless the aspiration is there to bring out the best in your future career.
3. Having passed your previous category you become an expert of sorts. Now you have more than one bird book, but as yet only one pair of binoculars, maybe a bit bigger than the first one. At this stage you are still relatively relaxed but there are traces of seriousness creeping into your attitude. When on holiday you do birdwatching (only) and start to become a bit condescending towards non-birders. Your Roberts is still very much part of your paraphernalia, maybe with a special little sakkie for the book to fit in and your name embroidered on it.