[Birdtalk] Bird IDing

[Ronnie Johnson]

I've had enough trouble with IDs that I've considered the possibility that
birding is not the hobby for me.  Feeling Steve's pain, I was pretty bummed
about the fact that my sighting of a neotropic cormorant was dismissed but
another report with an almost identical bird photo was verified.  Having
viewed neotropics about 3 days per week when I lived in Arizona, I'm fairly
certain when I see one.

Still, if you consider being told when you are wrong (but not why) as a
constructive learning experience, then this is a great exchange.  If that
doesn't work, you can go the route of choosing what to listen to and what to
take with a big grain of salt.  That's my two cents.

2009/3/24 Steve Coleman <scoleman at utah.gov>

>  I have felt the sting of having my bird ID be questioned and while it is
> painful it has always made me be more observant in the field. Just a couple
> of weeks ago I reported a Swainson's Hawk in my neighborhood and sent
> detailed instructions where I saw it because I got many replies questioning
> a Swainson's in this area this early in the season, but I never saw any
> reports or received any e-mails from anyone who may have checked it out.
> People I talked to at DWR tell me that Swainson's Hawks are known to winter
> over here in Utah however there doesn't seem to be any
> official documentation of that.
>
> Several years ago I reported a Common Redpoll at one of my feeders, several
> people came to my house to see it but it never reappeared and
> they questioned my ID. I began to question my own ID but then within a few
> weeks Redpolls were being reported all over the Wasatch Front. The biggest
> find was up in Mantua and many of us went up there and confirmed they were
> Redpolls. It was a personal reassurance that I hadn't lost my mind.
>
> Having my reports questioned has helped me be a better birder but what
> has disappointed me a few times is when I report something odd, rare or what
> seems out of place and get no response what so ever. That makes me feel
> like those reports are just not taken seriously. Many years ago I was at
> Kaysville ponds looking at Hooded Mergansers when a really odd duck flew in.
> I looked over my field guide and found nothing like it, the closest thing to
> what I was looking at to me was a Black-bellied Whistling Duck. I had been
> down in Chandler Arizona just a month before and saw several of these ducks
> down there. While it was the closest thing It still didn't look right to me
> so I reported it hoping a more experienced birder would go out and check it
> out. After several days of checking the reports there was no response to my
> report so I sent another e-mail begging birders to please check out
> Kaysville ponds. Finally I got a response with a title something like "the
> Duck is a Goose" it went on to say that the bird was an Orinoco Goose a
> South American species that was likely an escaped pet. Later though it was
> reported to be an Egyptian Goose by some others. Though it took some extra
> encouraging on my part to get someone check out my report I was grateful
> that someone finally took it seriously and went out and looked. I have added
> a link of comparisons of the three birds, I saw it several times afterwards
> and am convinced that it was indeed an Egyptian Goose.
>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/stevecoleman1155/GooseComparisons#
>
> Happy Birding
> Steve
>
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