Thanks. This is encouraging. I havehad biologist roots for ages past, but have
only been a semi-seriousbirder since January of 2016. I have tried to be very
conservativewith my reports, but still opted to go back later and delete one
ofmy sightings, which I think that I got wrong. About four others Ihad second
thoughts about for weeks later. I finally decided that Igot two of the four
right. (Really fuzzy pictures helped some.) Theother two still haunt me at
times, even though they are not overlyrare birds.
I used to keep my camera with me 98% ofthe time. I've now upped that to about
99.9% of the time. I eventake it with me when I go to the refrigerator to make
a sandwich. (Well, maybe that's an exaggeration.) I increased the
percentagesafter finding 17 white-rumped sandpipers at the Alcoa Duck Pond
inMay of last year and me with no camera. Sigh...
I'm looking forward to my next sightingof something really unusual so that
better birders than me can flockto the site and help me identify some of those
obnoxious little brownflitty birds that don't wear name tags. Thanks for the
report. It'sencouraging to know that long-time birders can have second
thoughts,too.
Randy WinsteadMaryville, Blount County
From: Jay S. <yourcatoliver@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tennessee Birding <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 7:46 PM
Subject: [TN-Bird] Here goes it: 2 bird sighting retractions (Attn Rick Knight)
<!--#yiv2881340690 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}-->Hi all,
As someone who feels strongly about the accuracy of one's personal sightings,
and thus the legitimacy of reports, I am taking this opportunity to formally
retract a couple of my past sightings. I do this for two reasons. One, because
it's the kind of birder I am. And two, I want to be sure these sightings don't
find their way into The Migrant.
First, as an experienced birder, I've seen how easy it can be for someone to
make a bird into something it's not. That's not really the case here. I shook
that behavior off long ago, if ever I had it at all. But what does happen on
rare occasions is truly believing myself 100% accurate at the time of
identification, only to be heavily nagged about it later on. I'm sure a few of
you understand this. And so that percentage of confidence slowly drops to say,
99%. And 99, in my book, ain't a legit sighting.
So, with that said, I hereby retract the following sightings:
Friday, May 20, 2016: YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER at Seven Islands State Birding
Park, Knox Co. Of the two Yellow-bellied Flycatchers I reported last year, this
one started to feel off. I can't even remember the reasons why. Probably had
something to do with the lighting. Was it a YB? Probably. Almost everything
seemed right about it.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016: BREWER'S BLACKBIRD at Seven Islands State Birding
Park, Knox Co. For me, everything was right for male Brewer's at the time. But
not having ever seen Rusties in breeding plumage, I had to ask myself, COULD it
have been a male Rusty in lingering breeding plumage? At the time I didn't
think to look closely at the bill and other differentiating characters between
the species. All I knew was that it wasn't a grackle. So, my 100% confidence
dropped to 99% . Happily, on November 28, at another location in Knox County, I
did happen upon a pair of Brewer's, and that ID remains certain.
There you have it. Judge me as you will! :)
Jay SturnerKnoxvilleKnox Co.
