[texbirds] Re: e-bird question- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
- From: Jim Sinclair <jim.sinclair@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2013 07:50:30 -0600
This is my 12th year of leading birding tours for the King Ranch. At the
start of all my tour I tell the group that everyone is entitled to three
'stick birds' per trip, including the guide. I have been known to call a
Javelina a turkey, and a turkey a Javelina. I first learned that
philosophy from a guide many years when I was a beginning birder. The
guide was Roger Tory Peterson. Didn't bother him at all to make a
mistake. It WOULD bother him to not correct a mistake.
But I have also been in the field with a few 'guides' who will not even
call people's attention to a bird until they are absolutely sure what it
is. A few of those are well known 'experts'.
Speaking for myself, I don't mind at all when someone questions my ID.
That questioning serves two purposes: It allows a correction to be made if
the ID was in error, and/or provides an opportunity to discuss the ID
process. We all learn from that.
Perhaps a diplomatic way to deal with it is to ask, "Why are you calling
that a Song Sparrow instead of a Savannah Sparrow?"
Bottom line - a good guide should never get offended by someone questioning
their ID. If they are, they need to do something else.
On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 7:29 AM, <MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi, all,
>
> what's the ethical thing to do when you're on a bird
> walk/tour and the leader makes what you KNOW is a wrong call? Just let it
> go?
>
>
>
> Mary Beth Stowe
> McAllen, TX
> _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)
>
>
>
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--
Jim Sinclair (TX-ESA)
TOS Life Member
Kingsville, TX
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking we were at when we created them." - Albert Einstein
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