Bill,
Thanx for the kind words regarding the digiscopes I put up. I am glad
you enjoyed them. I put the Meadowlark up because I thought the bird
might be in juvenile plumage. I may have been wrong about this. Open up
a couple of field guides and see what you think.
I put the Cooper's up because I know the Northern Virginia Bird Club
was at the Occoquan Bay NWR today, where the group saw an accipiter and
called it a Cooper's. I heard later that at the time, some in the group
initially thought the accipiter might have been a Sharp-shinned Hawk,
instead of a Cooper's.
I was also at the refuge today and digiscoped a Cooper's, so I thought
I would put up the bird I digiscoped earlier today. Since you are
obviously studying photos people put on the web, which is a very good
thing to be doing, take another look at the Cooper's I posted. The
relative size of the head and forward set eyes, the truncated
streaking, the relative size of the foot, and the wide terminal band in
the tail are all characteristics that suggest Cooper's Hawk to me. I
had the benefit of looking at all of the photos I got of this bird, not
just the photo I put up. But, I do believe the photo I put up is
diagnostic. Obviously, I do not know if my bird is the same bird seen
by the folks from the Northern Virginia Bird Club today. But,I thought
I would put the picture up anyway. We all know accipiters can be a
tough call.
I put the Field Sparrow up because I liked the picture and thought
others might too.
As for people being offensive in off line posts. I don't have a
problem being corrected on or off line. And, it is the case that the
venue I was referring to is properly called the Occoquan Bay NWR. So, I
do regret the confusion.
But, not only did the person contacting me off line not sign their
mail to me. They also went to the trouble of removing their email
address from the "FROM" line in the email they sent me. Instead, they
used my own email address in this space. This is just bad behavior as
far as I am concerned. People contacting people off line for any reason
whatsoever ought to have the courtesy sign mail they send others.
Glad you enjoyed the digiscopes, and thanx again for contacting me.
Paul Kane
Falls Church, VA
-----Original Message-----
From: BMcGovern <bmcgovern@xxxxxxx>
To: pmkane1953@xxxxxxx; va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 22:24:37 -0500
Subject: Re: [va-bird] Re Meadowlark @ Occoquan NWR
Paul:
I'd like to think (or maybe hope) that people are not *deliberately*
being offensive.
In any case, I'm sure that most VA-Birders were like me--I spent
about 6 or 7 minutes enjoying the photos, looking for markers that
would be useful to me.
Thanks for posting---I'd like to see more!
Bill
----- Original Message ----- From: <pmkane1953@xxxxxxx>
To: <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2005 9:29 PM
Subject: [va-bird] Re Meadowlark @ Occoquan NWR
> All,
>
> Received an off line mail stating Meadowlark I posted earlier might
not > be in juvenile plumage, as I had suggested. Writer thinks this
bird might > be a fall adult, not quite into non-breeding plumage.
Don't know about > this, but I thought I would pass this observation
along since this person > was kind enough to write me.
>
> Also, in my earlier post, I referred to the Occoquan Bay NWR as
being the > Occoquan NWR in the subject line of my post. Later, in the
body of this > same post, I referred to the refuge as simply being
Occoquan. The > temporary web gallery I put up was titled Occoquan NWR
>
> Someone else wrote me an unsigned off line mail, reminding me that
the > proper name of the refuge discussed in my original post is the
Occoquan > Bay NWR, not the Occoquan NWR or simply Occoquan. The writer
apparently > believes some might confuse my shorthand for the Occoquan
Bay NWR with the > nearby Occoquan Regional Park.
>
> I know I'll sleep more comfortably tonight knowing this weighty
matter > has been cleared up. I do regret the confusion. If you are
among the many > who will be chasing the meadowlark, cooper's, and
field sparrow I posted > earlier, by all means, please make sure you
look for these birds at the > Occoquan Bay National Wildfife Refuge,
not the nearby Occoquan Regional > Park. And, to the moron who sent me
this unsigned mail, if you wish to > contact me offline, please
remember to sign your mail. Even morons get > named, right?
>
> Paul Kane
> Falls Church, VA
> You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply
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>
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