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This has been a most interesting (and educational) day on MOU-net. There have so far been reports of 3 species of "early" birds that are not expected for another month or more, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Common Nighthawk. One by one, each was eventually determined to be some other species that is normal for this time of year (E. Starling, Purple Finch, and American Woodcock). In at least one of these cases, the observer was contacted by someone from the listserver and asked for more specific information to be sure that a misidentification was not involved. In my view, this is a real value of a listserver - information being provided - and birders contacting each other and discussing potential ID challenges. Today, each of these reports involved misidentifications, something that we all do. But people became a bit more educated as a result of the interaction and that is, I believe, a good thing. And, who knows, tomorrow one or all of these same 3 species may actually show up somewhere in Minnesota and new records will be established. And that too is a good thing. So for the benefit of novice birders and not-so-novice birders, let's keep the lines of communication open, be respectful of each other's opinions AND the rules of the listserver, and together we'll all learn more about Minnesota birds. I think that's the general idea. And remember...it may be the "early" bird that gets ... oh, never mind. James Mattsson [email protected] Why Wait? Move to EarthLink. ------=_NextPart_84815C5ABAF209EF376268C8 Content-Type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII <HTML style="FONT-SIZE: x-small; FONT-FAMILY: MS Sans Serif"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1251"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1276" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <P> <DIV> <DIV>This has been a most interesting (and educational) day on MOU-net. There</DIV> <DIV>have so far been reports of 3 species of "early" birds that are not expected for another</DIV> <DIV>month or more, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Common</DIV> <DIV>Nighthawk. One by one, each was eventually determined to be some other</DIV> <DIV>species that is normal for this time of year (E. Starling, Purple Finch,</DIV> <DIV>and American Woodcock). In at least one of these cases, the observer was contacted by someone from the listserver and asked</DIV> <DIV>for more specific information to be sure that a misidentification was not</DIV> <DIV>involved. In my view, this is a real value of a listserver - information</DIV> <DIV>being provided - and birders contacting each other and discussing potential</DIV> <DIV>ID challenges. Today, each of these reports involved misidentifications,</DIV> <DIV>something that we all do. But people became a bit more educated as a result of</DIV> <DIV>the interaction and that is, I believe, a good thing. And, who knows, tomorrow one or all of these same 3 species may actually</DIV> <DIV>show up somewhere in Minnesota and new records will be established. And that too is a good thing. So for the benefit of novice birders and not-so-novice birders, let's keep the lines of communication open, be respectful of each other's opinions AND the rules of the listserver, and together we'll all learn more about Minnesota birds. I think that's the general idea. And remember...it may be the "early" bird that gets ... oh, never mind.</DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>James Mattsson</DIV> <DIV><A href="mailto:[email protected]";>[email protected]</A></DIV> <DIV>Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <P></P></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_84815C5ABAF209EF376268C8--
