{"id":811,"date":"2014-01-14T20:03:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T18:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/general\/theoretically-birding-and-relativity\/"},"modified":"2014-01-14T20:03:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T18:03:05","slug":"theoretically-birding-and-relativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/general\/theoretically-birding-and-relativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Theoretically birding and relativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Theoretically birding and relativity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or\u2026 \u201cLocation, location, location!\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Eurasian<\/p>\n

Now it could be true that a large part of birding<\/strong> and the excitement that seeing a certain bird can provoke among birders can be quite closely measured using the DOB rule<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Namely that excitement<\/strong> is inversely proportional to :<\/p>\n

Distance Of Bird (DOB) from observer x species occurrence index<\/p>\n

OK, I just made it up. So what am I trying to say?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at an example:<\/p>\n

Above we have the modest Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) \u2013 from now on just \u201cCoot\u201d, as it is usually termed in British English.<\/p>\n

If you (i) live in Europe and (ii) see a Coot on your local river and (iii) it is close enough to be well seen through the binoculars you are carrying, and (iv) it is within its normal range and is relatively common on that stretch of river your response might materialize in such a facial expression:<\/p>\n

\"Birders<\/p>\n

Now if the Coot in question is so far away as to be a barely identifiable blob in your telescope your reaction, if any, might look like this:<\/p>\n

\"Birders\u2019<\/p>\n

If the Coot is on that same river but somehow you have managed to get so close to it that you can take a good photo with your unassuming camera and lens, your response might be like this:<\/p>\n

\"Birders\u2019<\/p>\n

Now for a change of habitat. If a Coot appears on your city terrace<\/strong> and is looking into your bedroom\/living room window you might wear this expression:<\/p>\n

\"Birders\u2019<\/p>\n

If you unexpectedly encounter a Coot swimming in your bath <\/strong>then your reaction would possibly be reflected in this look:<\/p>\n

\"Birders\u2019<\/p>\n

If the poor Coot is plucked and roasted and sitting on your dinner plate, and you are an inhabitant of the Ebro Delta, you might wear this expression:<\/p>\n

\"Birders<\/p>\n

If its plucked and roasted and sitting on your dinner plate and you are an inhabitant of Barcelona, you might be wearing this expression:<\/p>\n

\"Birders\u2019<\/p>\n

If you are out walking the dog at your local marshes somewhere in California and a Coot crosses your path, you might pay witness to the event like this:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Birders\u2019<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s my relatively theoretical \u00a0theory. What\u2019s yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theoretically birding and relativity Or\u2026 \u201cLocation, location, location!\u201d\u00a0 Now it could be true that a large part of birding and the excitement that seeing a certain bird can provoke among birders can be quite closely measured using the DOB rule. Namely that excitement is inversely proportional to : Distance Of Bird (DOB) from observer x […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7I752-d5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}