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Make a Little Bird List In Your Soul

In “Confessions of an Obsessive Bird Lister,” this month’s Observer goes directly inside the world of high-stakes bird listing. It’s cutthroat - when bird lister Sandy Komito challenges another bird lister’s bird list, the latter dubs him “Iago Komito.” Concedes the writer, “In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago’s poisonous slanders end in murder. The stakes in birding aren’t quite so high.” He goes on to speculate that his hobby may be “a guy thing, a manifestation of too much testosterone.” Boy, you really have to watch out when that Ann Arbor testosterone gets out of hand. You don’t want to be hanging around the bar when two of these guys can’t agree on whether they saw a Townsend’s warbler or a western tanager, is all we have to say.

11 Responses to “Make a Little Bird List In Your Soul”


  1. Hee hee. It’s true that bird listing can get quite competitive… but I do a reasonable amount of birding back home (i.e. MA) and have to say that most of the birders who are doing the ‘hardcore’ bird listing are old retired men… after all, if you still have a job, you don’t really have time to chase down rumors of rare birds and whatnot. One has to wonder just how much testosterone is left in these fellows.

    posted by art student on September 6th, 2004 at 12:11 pm

  2. How about another posting about how bad “Ann Arbor is Overrated” sucks???

    posted by Anonymous on September 6th, 2004 at 10:34 pm

  3. Actually, there’s a recent book out on birding called “The Big Year” — I picked it up used in a bookstore by chance, but it’s actually really great (a la A Walk in the Woods).

    posted by Anna on September 7th, 2004 at 9:48 am

  4. Anna–

    Any idea who it’s by? I should rather like to shatter my historical streak and get my mother’s birthday present early this year…

    posted by art student on September 7th, 2004 at 10:29 am

  5. The full title is, “The Big Year: A tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession” and the author is Mark Obmascik. t’s listed on Amazon. Sandy Komito is actually one of the people featured. He’s a character.

    posted by Anna on September 7th, 2004 at 12:12 pm

  6. You probably won’t find the author of the birding article “Hanging out in a bar” to begin with.

    posted by Ypsidweller on September 7th, 2004 at 3:34 pm

  7. Ummm…in what world is bird listing a masculine/testosterone thing? I suppose only in Ann Arbor, where knitting a tea cosie is a way to show a guy is butch.

    I suppose all things are relative. :)

    posted by Matthew on September 7th, 2004 at 3:47 pm

  8. RE:How about another posting about how bad “Ann Arbor is Overrated” sucks???

    Ann Arbor is Overrated does NOT suck. It’s a cool, interesting site and that comes from someone who doesn’t even live in or near Ann Arbor.

    posted by Anonymous on September 7th, 2004 at 4:28 pm

  9. The local birding crew seems a little heavy on English profs.

    posted by Sam on September 7th, 2004 at 5:02 pm

  10. I guess all that “hail to thee blithe spirit” stuff goes to your head after awhile.

    posted by Laura on September 7th, 2004 at 6:48 pm

  11. RE: How about another posting about how “Ann Arbor is Overrated” sucks???

    Interesting how these themes come together. Because posting a pissy, unfunny comment without having the testosterone to attach your name to it on an anonymous website is about as un-masculine as birdwatching. I know urging many locals to get lives falls on deaf ears, but I’m willing to keep trying.

    posted by Nick on September 8th, 2004 at 11:20 pm