Talk:List of birdwatchers

Hugh Buck
Somebody wrote that Hugh Buck has a list of 9530 species citing surfbird.com as the source. That source says 9468, so where do those 9530 come from? Is it an error or does it come from another source?

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Source problem
The first and primary source reference given is surfbirds.com. This site is simply a place where birdwatchers can state the number of species seen in various categories. There is no verification, no species lists, no sources, simply the birder’s own claim. While the great majority, I am sure, are honest and valid, there is nothing to prevent a fake claim. As such, I question its usefulness. (And yes, I’m in there too!)Ptilinopus (talk) 10:01, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

I think there is no single birdwatcher in the world that has an external checker of their lists (maybe with the exception of kids below 13). It makes little sense to say that sources should not be own claims, because there is no other possible source. It goes with the hobby. If you decide not to trust own claims then birdwatching is not your thing, try chess or numismatics. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Salvadorcases (talk • contribs) 23:54, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Julie Cook
What's this about Julie Cook having seen more than 9000 species? Can somebody fix it? I'm on mobile and I don't understand the interface good enough to reverse such a large defacing of a page. Bogfind (talk) 18:58, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Article name
The article suggests that this is a list of notable birdwatchers, to which per WP:N, a separate article is required. I propose that the people without separate articles with large life lists be deleted and replaced with a section on notable people with large life lists. There should also be a section on notable birdwatchers who are best known for being birdwatchers, yet do not have large life lists. Does anyone have any views on this? User:AustinRedd007 —Preceding undated comment added 16:10, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Birdwatchers famous for achievements in other fields
90% of the people listed have no source cited showing, independently, that they are birders! Bad article! --plaws (talk) 16:00, 7 September 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree. Every one of the 'Birdwatchers famous for achievements in other fields' should have a citation that supports their inclusion. For all we know this list is being added to every time someone sees "So-and-so liked to sit at the beach and watch the gulls over the water." I propose to remove every uncited inclusion. Valereee (talk) 13:11, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Simply mentioning this because it might help us figure out what we're looking for. There's actually an interesting comment at a nature preserve's site: https://www.lowerbrucklandfarm.co.uk/birds-and-birding/famous-birdwatchers/:
 * There are a number of sites that have obviously been paid to refer to Prince Philip, Paul McCartney and Daryl Hannah as birdwatchers. Hannah does get involved in activist-type stuff, but I can’t find any evidence of her donning a decent pair of binoculars.
 * Hannah was namedropped in the Guardian article in 2008. We added her here along with the other celebrities namedropped in the same article. Since then she's appeared on multiple lists of birdwatching celebrities, and I'm wondering if those sources are pulling that information from us. Do we have any actual evidence of anyone discussing her interest in birdwatching, or is it all just bare mention namedrops? Has she ever called herself a birdwatcher? Ditto the others. If feel like if someone is actually a birdwatcher, we'll have discussion of it somewhere rather than a simple mention. Valereee (talk) 14:55, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

Large life lists
These seems to be all sourced to self-reported databases. We need to see someone else talking about these people with large life lists. Valereee (talk) 13:47, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * I also don't think we need to update this bird-by-bird. 'Birders with life lists over 9000', with citation to some reliable non-self-reported-db source. Valereee (talk) 15:00, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

Other notable birdwatchers
This needs sources, too. Literally the first one I checked, James Clements, doesn't actually even mention birdwatching in the bio. I'm sure many ornithologists (and in particular the author of a checklist) probably are birdwatchers, but we need sources calling them something like "notable birdwatchers". Valereee (talk) 13:59, 8 March 2023 (UTC)