I find Mike's question very interesting.
First let me preface this post with an admission that I love to list. I very much enjoy the wilderness and the bird behavior but I also love the listing aspect of the hobby. I always find it funny that many birders seem ashamed if they are listers and try to hide that fact. I think that one can enjoy listing and also enjoy all other aspects of the hobby. Personally, I do believe that 300 birds in Minnesota is a significant number. I only have 261 in the state and have birded here fairly extensively. I tend not to chase birds in the state that I have already seen elsewhere which probably hinders my numbers. I focus much more on my life list than my state list at this time. I just returned from Costa Rica and was able to see 249 birds with 92 of them being life birds. My life list now stands at 852. My North America list is 427. As for chasing birds, I tend to chase birds in the state that would be rare else ware. For example, if there was a Dusky Flycatcher found in Minnesota I wouldn't likely travel very far to see it even though it would be a "lifer". I figure that I will no doubt see this bird out west sometime in the future. However if there was an Ivory Gull found anywhere in the state I would chase it if I had time because this bird has a remote range and is also declining significantly. For me finding a bird on my own is the most rewarding. Although I have seen many tropical birds in Peru and Costa Rica I still consider my Boreal Owl "self-find" last winter as the best bird of my life. That could be another topic: what is your best "life" bird? Good birding, Jason Caddy Minneapolis, MN [email protected] _________________________________________________________________ The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID27925::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:032010_3 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
