When I think back to my early days as a beginning birdwatcher, I can remember how the folks I was birding with thought I was incredibly lucky. I hit the 300 species mark in Oregon much faster than was typical for the times (no internet, intermittent phones trees, no car of my own). Of course the older I got the less it seemed to be about luck and the more it seemed like persistence. I see the numbers and kinds of birds that I see not so much because I'm lucky, than because I spend a lot of time in the field. What makes me lucky is that I have the time to spend in the field and a family that understands.
But I can't dismiss the notion of beginner's luck out of hand. There seems to be something about being new to an activity that gives a newbie special powers. There are several up-and-coming young birders who have made some impressive and well documented finds recently.
And I have to say, I've been feeling pretty lucky again myself, not so much as a birder but rather as a butterfly and dragonfly watcher, two avocations I've seriously taken up only recently. I can tell it must look like luck, because the old pros I communicate with use a lot of wows with exclamation points in response to many of my reports. They express polite doubt, exactly the same way I do with unusual bird reports. And they routinely want to double-check my details and photographs. Honest skepticism and peer review are essential to good science, but they also send a pretty clear signal that some of what I'm seeing is surprising them.
So, what is it about the newcomer that produces this rare luck? I think it breaks down to enthusiasm, naiveté and location.
There is a difference in the degree of enthusiasm a newcomer brings to the field. More things are likely to be new, so the newcomer is probably watching things more closely. Newcomers are also not burdened by experience. They do not have as many preconceived notions about what should or should not be seen in a particular place or at a particular time. They're more open to possibilities. And newcomers are far more likely to look in novel places, places near where they live that an out-of-towner would not necessarily think to go. They know their territory.
Of course, the other side of enthusiasm, naiveté and location is that it's easy to get carried away. For every properly documented, lucky find there is the over-exuberant mistake. My years of birding experience have helped me keep my newbie tendencies toward overzealousness in check (at least to some degree) in identifying butterflies and dragonflies. And my understanding of the need to properly document the unusual has kept me out of most of the binds I've seen newcomers fall into with those who have more experience. Experience counts for something and the newbie needs to be as open to the possibilty of error as he is to the possibilty of discovery.
I fully expect my luck to run out as I gain experience in watching butterflies and dragonflies, but I have to to say I'm enjoying the rush of satisfaction over finding interesting things and having others say "WOW!!!"
Posted by mbalame at July 8, 2005 7:44 PM