I wholeheartedly second what Joey said. Glenn, you led with "today I reminded myself I am not the best birder in the world." But the mark of a good birder is not a lack of misidentifications. The mark of a good birder is how he or she handles misidentifications. You are certainly one of the best birders in Colorado. (An awful lot of us owe you a Golden-crowned Warbler, among many, many other fine birds!)
"I’d rather be wrong and have a clean list than fudge a rarity." Hats off to that sentiment. Thanks for everything you do for the Colorado birding community. Nathan Pieplow Boulder On Sat, Oct 27, 2018 at 9:30 PM Joey Kellner <[email protected]> wrote: > Thank you Glenn. > > First, for finding and scrutinizing this bird and notifying people of your > first impressions of the bird (yes, nearly all your first impressions are > correct :-) ). It is better to get people onto a bird and find out it > might not be the bird you thought, than the opposite...telling no one and > then showing photos of a rarity that no one can chase because it left! > So, for letting us all know what you suspected WAS the right thing to do. > > Second, thank you for posting your uncertainty and suspicions. It allows > all of us to reflect, "Did I, personally, see enough detail on the bird to > make a positive identification?" Many times when out birding we "blindly" > accept a companion's sightings. When we bird with a friend or an organized > group we should, like Glenn, want a clean list for ourselves. Sometimes we > get caught up in the "chase" and allow "peer pressure" to influence the > bird identifications we make (or attempt to make at great distances). > > Again, a big "THANK YOU" to Glenn for explaining his decision process and > conclusions. We all need to re-evaluate what we saw...and see in the > future. Great birders like Glenn DO make mistakes occasionally, but that > is how great birders became great...they make mistakes and learn. I guess > I need to make more mistakes! > > Thanks Glenn. > > Joey. > > Joey Kellner > Littleton, Colorado > > > > On Saturday, October 27, 2018 at 7:51:20 PM UTC-6, Glenn and Laurie wrote: >> >> So today I reminded myself I am not the best birder in the world. >> Something everyone needs to pay attention to. First impressions are often >> correct but not always. Tony Leukering taught me shape and structure are >> huge in bird ID. Plumage changes but structure rarely does. I was fairly >> convinced the Marston duck was a tufted duck. I saw and photo’d the bird >> fairly close up. In defense of everyone else who reported this bird, it >> was never close to shore after my initial sighting. From a distance, it >> appeared to be a TUDU but was not easy to confirm. After looking at my >> photos, I became suspicious. Shape and structure did not look right. I’d >> rather be wrong and have a clean list than fudge a rarity. >> >> >> >> I’m ok with mis-IDing this one, because I won’t next time. >> >> >> >> Glenn Walbek >> >> Castle Rock, CO >> >> >> >> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for >> Windows 10 >> >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/8ac2e1b8-f06b-424f-85e8-86f64753fde2%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/8ac2e1b8-f06b-424f-85e8-86f64753fde2%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAFhaDVKy_LHE9amEhrUZ_h2yWrUUMRdVGbNuM9KUVYuUtmzFVg%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
