Besting Rumpelstiltskin:A compulsion to name each bird may not produce wisdom, but it can turn nonbirders into birders

摘要

I confess right from the get-go that this column slides toward the convoluted. The reason is simple:I have three topics in mind, and I can't pick a favorite.My first thought was to pen something about bird identification. Insofar as I've just published two new books on the subject — Hawks in Flight, co-authored with Clay Sutton and fellow contributing editor David Sibley, and The Art of Bird Identification— an article seemed apt.But that was before my friend Don Freiday and I got into a discussion about birding vs. birdwatching — that is, about how birding seems to be driving contemporary bird study, while birdwatching has fallen to the avoca-tional wayside.