Forgive the intrusion, but why does anyone bother to post these 'Lists' of birds they've seen?... My Year list, My county lists, life lists etc, etc ad nauseum.
Do they really believe anyone is interested, or moreover if anyone actually reads them in detail?
What is the purpose? I can understand why, and have often gratefully used, the info from particular locations as part of the planning of a trip, but to blandly list species and a yearly/life number is surely pointless?
Is it a competitive thing or what...I really struggle to see the point.
To each his/her own, Trevor - no reason to list-bash. I love adding to my list! It's a great feeling! And I also like reading other people's lists - it gets me excited about my own!
Hi Trevor
I've got two threads running in the lists section here. One is Month Lists ( http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=48356 ), which I enjoy keeping. What I need for a particular month will often influence my choice of where to go off birding in my precious spare time, eg the other day I visited a local reserve that is hosting a wintering Curlew Sandpiper, and I'll be back next month to see it in February. This starts to give me better understanding of a seldom seen (in the UK) plumage. Also it'll be my month lists that will eventually encourage me to go and seek out local specialities (Cirl Bunting, Crested Tit, Common Crane etc) in each month, so I'll be visiting areas outside their optimum season and again, gaining experience(s) I might otherwise have missed. I get off on this and posted to see if I could encourage any one else to do likewise. (Doesn't look like I have, but hey, I gave it a go!) The other is my garden list ( http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=70096 ) which I started simply because I was childishly excited about finally owning my own house, in a place where a Garden List was worth doing! I totally admit it's pretty self indulgent (and the Garden List one would probably be better suited to maybe the Local Patch section - perhaps I'll get it moved sometime), but I enjoy it, so there!
Not a comprehensive answer - it's not always easy to look back and analyse exactly why one does things that just "felt like a good idea at the time" but you raise a good point so I thought I'd give it a shot!
James