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| This is what Instant Gratification looks like You will see scenes like this on Saturday |
if you want to know the answer to a question about your favorite outdoor pursuit, it shouldn't be hard to find.
One thing that drives me crazy are people that want to be told the answer instead of finding the answer themselves.
Before I begin with this rant, let me first say, I ask a ton of questions. Believe me, I am not criticizing anyone for wanting to learn. A decade back, I hired a fishing guide on Squam Lake, we met forty minutes south of the lake. I had written out three pages worth of questions to ask him. I asked him about at least a dozen small ponds in the Lakes Region that I could put my kayak in. The guide was also a biologist for New Hampshire Fish and Game. I tried to learn everything I could about the lakes, smallmouth biology, feeding pattern, anything I could think of. However, there is a big difference from asking a knowledgeable question and plain old wanting someone to do it for you.
Where am I going with this? As many of you probably are, I'm a member of a few Facebook Groups of things I'm interested in. A couple of these groups (no shock here) are birding groups. The ones I am a member of revolve around Rhode Island and Massachusetts birding. Some are rare bird alerts, others are photography brag boards. What is driving me the craziest is a picture of a bird with the words "ID please".
That's it. No explanation of where the bird was seen. No reason's why the photographer thinks it is one species or another. No write up about a confusing field mark. Just "ID please". I understand, that maybe I'm a little hung up on what I consider a rude entitlement. Maybe, I'd be getting a little worked up over nothing except for one thing...
Most of these pictures lately have been textbook shots of obvious birds in breeding plumage. I have asked for help identifying birds three times, and I suspect it will happen more than three more times. However, I never ask for help until I have gone through one of my many "Birds of the Eastern U.S." or "Peterson's Field Guide." For one, I don't want to look stupid. When I ask for help, I always put a paragraph of where I saw it, size, and what I think it is ( and yes, I have been wrong).
The latest two examples that prompted me to write this involve two common shorebirds. Yesterday, a lady took a picture of a Ruddy Turnstone. Because it is in spring, it is in its full breeding colors. The birds looks EXACTLY like it would in ANY bird book. All she had to do was open it!. Instead, it was too much effort to try to figure this out for herself.
Last week, the exact same thing happened. A person took a very nice photo of a Black Bellied Plover. God forbid, they actually have some pride and try to figure it out for themselves. For some reason, under the words "ID please", someone answered and told them it was a Black Bellied Plover. I also understand, that the birds I am writing about may not be considered "common" to those of you reading this.I also understand, you may not care what kind of bird you see on the shoreline while fishing. But I would hope, that if you are in a Facebook Message Board about birds, you would at least want to learn what kind of bird your taking a picture of. It seems to me, you should try to figure it out for yourself before you ask for help . (Believe me, both of these two examples are so painfully obvious, they could have found the birds in the book in less than a minute)
Ironically, this is a species (Black Bellied Plover) I also inquired about last year. I saw one well after breeding season. It looked completely different than any I had ever seen. I could not find it in my Peterson's Field Guide. After I was told what it was, and why it looked that way, I was so frustrated, I bought three other brands of field guides (used on Amazon for a couple bucks each). That way, I'd have other photos in different plumage to compare birds.
I have multiple stories of similar situations fishing. People that wanted to know where the fish are "Right Now". As much as anyone, I have profited from a friend's phone call telling me fish were right in front of them. I try to return that favor as often as I can. However, if you want to consistently catch stripers, the only real way is to fish for them. Stripers move. No matter how good of a fisherman you think you are, you're going to have many blanks. That is okay, it makes the days that it all comes together that much more special.
Here is another example of a fishing thing that bothers me a little. Every Friday for the last few years, Mass Wildlife updates their website. They write where trout were "scheduled" to be stocked during the week. Seems fair, as license holders, who pay for hatcheries, I have no problem with this. Occasionally, some of the waterbodies might not get the "scheduled" stocking because of muddy roads, equipment failure, ice on the pond, etc... For the most part, they do. If a trout gets stocked on Monday, then the fish have a few days to spread out before being listed on Friday. Sometimes the fish are stocked Thursday, in which case, you can walk into some great fishing.
I have Fridays off from work and I do go trout fishing a lot in the spring. I do check the website. Yes, sometimes I have walked into some unbelievable fishing. I let most of the fish go, so the way I see it, if I catch twenty fresh stockies, "No harm, No foul". I have had many more days, where I had to work to find and catch fish.
Well, Mass Wildlife, in their wisdom, just decided to update their website DAILY.
Now you can see where the trout are stocked that day. I don't agree with this at all. Anyone, can catch a mess of trout that were just dumped into a lake. There is no skill what so ever. There isn't even any luck. Last year I caught 19 brookies and tiger trout from a pond I fished on a Friday (that I was later told was stocked on Thursday). Now all one has to do, is check the website and take a drive. You could easily catch twenty trout every time you go fishing because of the daily updates. Talk about being entitled.
It just seems to me, that more and more people need instant gratification. No one want to research for themselves.No one wants to crack a book or use the internet. No one want to find fish.Think I'm wrong? Go out on Opening Day this Saturday in Rhode Island. Watch how many smiles you see from people limiting out on easy just released trout. Then go back the following Saturday when those same people aren't working. Those ponds and streams will have nary a soul!
End Rant.
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