[texbirds] Re: Mystery birds - virtual birding - quite unexpected results

From: MBB22222@xxxxxxx
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2013 00:58:25 -0500 (EST)
WOW; I think I should post publicly IDs of the âmysteryâ terns.  Although  
public ID discussions are almost nonexistent  on Texbirds  anymore (and 
gulls, and evidently terns could produce many conflicting opinions  even 
between experienced birders so many tried to avoid it) and this (lack of  open 
discussions), I think, does not help the learning process. We all make/made  ID 
mistakes, perhaps a few make  less than others. Some birds are  evidently 
impossible to be correctly IDed without hearing their calls, etc.  Perhaps 
some are often ignored as being common and like in case of terns easy to  
âlist
â in breeding plumage. 
 
The additional reason I posted these particular tern photos was to test  
some earlier opinions I had and feared; and had these fears as well confirmed 
by  others. I was mostly concern about Least Tern data posted on eBirds 
(especially  during winter) and perhaps Least vs. Forsterâs vs. Common ID 
mistakes. But Brush  (who else could have more experience in analyzing reports) 
a 
few weeks ago  pointed to me that there is one more problematic tern - 
Sandwich Tern. He stated  that he would not trust  SATA records in winter as 
well. My first reaction  was, no this is not possible then I start thinking; 
well, maybe he is  right.  I was still uneasy about it so I decided to test it. 
It took me  time but finally I dug through my photo collection, choose a 
few, and tried to  put this test to work.
 
Why WOW? So far every email I got, all across the board, even from  
experienced birders, came with wrong IDs;  well, with one small exception  when 
one 
person thought about Least Tern (but I think in all/most photos) - not  
even one person came with Sandwich ID. Somehow I  received sort of expected  
answers; all commons, commons and Forsterâs  and commons with Royal in the  
last photo. 
 
So here are those mystery terns:
 
#1 Sandwich Tern  _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231173_ 
(http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231173) 
#2  Sandwich Tern _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231175_ 
(http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231175) 
#3  Least Tern _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231177_ 
(http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231177) 
#4  Sandwich Tern _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231180_ 
(http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/148231180) 
 
 I am sure I could wait and get some correct answers but I already  learned 
that misidentification could be a problem when one is looking at some  
terns in juvenile, subadult or non-breeding plumage. Also not everybody live  
close to the shore and have chance to see terns very often - folks from 
midland  have a huge disadvantage as one has to visit shore very often to see 
all 
tern  plumages that are changing a lot during different seasons. 
 
Thanks everyone who shared with me his/her ID opinions. 
 
Mark B Bartosik
Houston. Texas
_http://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field_ 
(http://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field)
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at 
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds

Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission 
from the List Owner
[texbirds] Re: Mystery birds - virtual birding - quite unexpected results

Other related posts:
