[wisb] counting after the fact birds
- From: "Seegert, Greg" <gseegert@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "[Wisb]" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:10:51 -0400
All
In regard to Wayne's query, I believe you should only count birds you "see" and
the only place to see them is in the field. Where and how you made the ID is
not relevant. I'm not a photographer so this is all moot for me. Let's use a
couple of examples. Say you're looking at a group of 10 shorebirds and you see
one that looks different, which you think is either Baird's or
white-rumped...so you take a photo. Later, based on that photo, you conclude
it's a white-rumped. To me that's a countable bird. You saw it, noted
something about it that caught your eye and identified it later. The same
logic applies whether you used a photo to ID it or in my case walked back to
the car to look at one of my books to jog my memory about how to distinguish
these two species.
Now let's change the scenario a little. You still have the same flock of 10
shorebirds but the photo you get includes the whole flock, not just the one odd
bird that has you puzzled. Upon looking at the photo you still aren't sure so
you send it to Expert A. You say, " Dear Expert A, the third bird from the
left in his photo has me stumped. Is it a Bairds or WR?" His/her reply....."I
thought you'd be asking me about the fifth bird from the left which happens to
be a red-necked stint. Oh, BTW, the third bird from the left is a western
sandpiper". Aside from feeling somewhat embarrassed, you can count the
western. You misidentified it, but you saw it and realized it was different.
You simply got the ID wrong....been there, done that. But can (should) you
count the stint. You probably looked through the whole flock, though perhaps
rather hastily so technically speaking you did see it. But should you count
it? I say absolutely not. You had no clue this bird was there. You shouldn't
get to count it You blew it. You shouldn't get a do-over. Should you report
this bird to the hotline? Absolutely because the bird was really there, it is
just that, in my opinion, you never saw it. Otherwise, pretty soon we'll have
people counting birds they saw over a web cam in Brazil or birds they see in
the background of a photo they took at Yellowstone 14 years ago. In my opinion
you can have a list..."birds seen on webcams" or "birds seen in old photos",
but again, in the spirit of what I think birding should be...seeing AND
identifying (with or without the help of books and experts) birds.... the stint
shouldn't count.
Greg Seegert
Deerfield, IL
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