h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why are bird-watchers referred to as 'twitchers'. I would assume that's what you're not supposed to do if you're trying not to disturb very rare bird.

Good point!

Not being a twitcher, I can only offer this unqualified guess: your average twitcher has a camera with a HUGE lens, a network of contacts and an overwhelming desire to see and photograph birds which hardly ever come to this country. Given that such birds are often present for very short periods of time due to being migratory or whatever, if you're going to get a photo of one you have to (a) have a well developed network of communication with other people who know about such things (b) the ability to drop everything at a moment's notice and hare off into the middle of nowhere with your cameras. It's that second thing, the sort of "twitch" reaction - "rare bird? Romney Marsh? Right." that leads to the name. Just guessing, as I say...

Thanks for reading btw...

H.