I felt alienated from this discussion until I read the comments of Ken
Archambault and Allen Chartier. They remind me of a better day. Today's
numerical accumulations of projects like eBird are fine as far as they
go---but who really cares about the names of all the observers for any
record? Seems we are counting the birders rather than the birds. And the
eBird folks, who I am persuaded are interested only in science, still
encourage observers to compete. Photographs become trophies more than
documentation. How many photos do we need? Birds, even though we know
what they look like, fly away, but our many many photos remain. And they
are seen as more real, a commodity. Rare birds become news today mostly
because of the stampedes they cause among birders. It is really all
about us, and this is an obsession that's growing.
        In such an atmosphere, it seems normal to regard birds as a commodity,
because that is how Americans see things. Birds are undeniably things,
but they are living animals, existing beyond the values too many of us
ascribe to them. They are aware of us as we are of them, and way beyond
our selfish preoccupations. This freedom, it seems to me, is something
we humans value--even if in our weakness we seek to deny it--and I think
it is at the heart of what we do as birders, even when we may be led
astray by other concerns.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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