9 Rules

The Brewer's Blackbird. Misunderstood. Persecuted. Profiled. South Tufa, Mono Lake, CA.

As you have undoubtedly noticed by now, bird bloggers (with a few exceptions) are not known for displaying much in the way of wit and cunning when it comes to their work...they largely stick to "whit" and bunting, know what I'm saying? Of course you do.

Dubious puns aside, I've had many conversations with birders (white ones) over the years about the paucity of black birders among the ranks...I would say that many I've had this talk with (possibly the majority) have never seen a black birder...which seems disturbing, even when you figure out that a lot of these people hardly have any friends, let alone black ones. In 19 years of birding, I have seen this rarity of rarities, the black birder. I have! I have seen six! I have met/observed thousands of birders over the years, and seen all of six black birders. The mind reels.

All of this brings us to today's link, J. Drew Lanham's 9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher. It's pretty damn funny, and food for thought as well. I can't imagine having to abide by Rule 3, that would truly suck. As a mixed race birder, I've never encountered much overt discrimination (people aren't afraid of asians?), although a client for a past biology job once told me I looked like a terrorist...I can relate to Rule 1 though, I was recently misidentified as another asian birder! It happens.

Anyways, its good. Give it a read.