Hey birders,
I also think it is important to distinguish between a rejected documentation
and an inaccurate identification. Those two are not necessarily synonymous.
It is possible to accurately identify a bird in the field but not include
important fieldmarks in the documentation sent to the records committee (done
it). Rejection: my fault.
It is possible to accurately identify a bird in the field that is atypical for
the species--maybe it has a patch of white or other color where it shouldn't.
Documentation of this individual can also be rejected (also happened to me)
Rejection: the bird's fault.
I don't even want to talk about my attempt to document a Townsend's X Hermit
Warbler seen in Wisconsin...I'm sure it was more painful for the records
committee to read than it was for me to write (especially since my view of the
bird was brief and I attempted to describe its song which was somewhere in
between the parent species). What a mess!
A records committee, unfortunately, is limited to the documentation that we
produce; they cannot go out with us in the field and see what it is that we saw
or heard. They are responsible for looking at the facts we present and
determining if the evidence supports the identification. It is a formal
process that probably should happen more frequently in informal gatherings.
Getting back to Pastor Al's original post: I don't think that I question myself
enough in the field in a manner that a records committee would question me. I
don't think I'm likely to start questioning myself in this manner (I tend to
identify on "jizz" first and fieldmarks second) and that is why it is even more
important for those around me to ask those types of questions. "As iron
sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" The important thing to remember as
the questioner is that the questionee is the one who SAW the bird.
Okay...got too long.
Happy birding!
Chad Heins
Mankato, MN
P.S. Documentations tend to get better the more you do! :)
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