Birder Economics

Forget about life after death. Forget about whether we are alone in the universe. Forget about Elvis. The key question is this: How can birders get both money and time? I cannot think of a question even remotely as challenging as this. At various points in my life I've had lots of time in which to go birding, but no money with which to help expand that birding beyond a 1km radius from my house. At other points in my life I've had money in which to extend that 1km radius into several thousand kilometres, but then find myself with no time in which to really do it justice, for instance by spending six weeks in Costa Rica with a 500mm lens and an infinite supply of memory cards.

There are some straightforward answers of course. Marry an heiress is a fairly obvious one, but in my case presents various complications, for instance not knowing any. And already being married. Get a job that pays you to go birding, and pays really well? Nice if you can get it, but few people can. Being a scientist would perhaps help, then you can go and live in Brazil and look at birds and perhaps even get paid for it too, but I'd imagine that also attempting to also live in London would be pushing it. Oh, and I have no scientific qualifications. In fact, I have almost no qualifications of any kind. Winning the lottery would be massively helpful. Unfortunately I view the lottery as a tax on stupid people, and so do not play it, which means I am very unlikely to win it.

Would that I could do this for a living!

In other words, with the time and money simultaneously option essentially ruled out, it becomes very much a choice. Which is more important? The easy answer is time, because people have a finite amount of it, and you could be run over by a bus at any moment. Then again, if like me you have a family fairly deeply embedded in London and not wanting to go and live in a caravan at Spurn, then you can't really turn your nose up at money. It is necessary to have it here and most anywhere, and having it makes life ever so much easier than not having it. I have a mate than maintains I am the luckiest person on the planet. Whilst I agree that there could be an element of luck involved, primarily my circumstances are down to hard graft and sacrifice. And working hard means having no time. The reason I'm writing this is that the last few weeks have been hugely painful, and this week in particular is shaping up to be what is known as a "classic". As far as I can tell, it's been blue sky and sunshine almost wall to wall, and yet I have not been able to enjoy any of it, and after another 11 hour day I'm feeling pretty deflated. Beer waiting in the fridge will help.

On the plus side, at least I don't have a massive tick on my face. Or have to eat worms.

I'm well aware that a "woe is me" blog post is unlikely to win me many admirers from the mainly left-wing birding community, I am after all a city worker etc etc. But two things in particular grate. One is that my birding opportunities are limited to the early morning and recently I have been too tired to get up and take advantage of the lovely light. And secondly that there seem to be plenty of people out there who are able to bird all day every day without the inconvenience of work. I guess that for the most part this is simply the alternative choice to mine though. How many of them are able to just swan about in the sunshine I dare not guess, I just hope I'm not helping them do so if you see what I mean. Not that I would dare write about that of course. Once bitten.....For now, I guess I just have to look forward to the next holiday. In that sense I suppose I am lucky - there are plenty of people out there who I am sure work a whole lot harder than I do, but who have nothing to look forward to. Then again, for some there is possibly an element of choice there too.