Hi Folks,
I get a handful of review birds each year that are ones observed by
people traveling I-5. The rest area birds usually aren't the issue (though
there are some of those as well). It's the ones that people see going 65++
on the freeway. Sometimes they mention they were traveling on the freeway,
sometimes they don't and I ask. Because, if I have no knowledge of their
experience, I try to consider viewing conditions. Traveling I-5 and seeing
a bird on the wire (with or without binoculars while zipping by at high
speed) is not a great viewing condition.
In the case of this report of Loggerhead Shrike (
https://ebird.org/checklist/S168909950), well, it's the right time of year
for a wandering LOSH, but 1) people sometimes get a brief glimpse of a
scrub-jay and think it is a shrike, 2) I went to the site and ... the wire
is NOT right next to the road, it's probably 100 ft or more from the road.
3) Would someone really be able to assess the mask width in those viewing
conditions? 4) Did they just write down what they "should" have seen? 5) I
asked their experience to give me some idea, they said "experienced," but
have only been birding since 2020.
On the one hand, it's normal time for LOSH and the "description" is good
(their original comments were much shorter than they are now). However, it
seems a stretch that they actually could have observed such detail while a
passenger in a car on I-5. I've let this sit here for a few days and am
still pondering. There are very few records of LOSH for Douglas County, so
I don't really want to add one that seems odd to me, so will probably
invalidate. But wanted to see what wisdom y'all have.
Thanks,
Matt
