Hmmm--mistaking a few leaves for a bat? My husband and I once, when we were in our 20s, found a perfect Barred Owl perched in a very nearby tree at the Morton Arboretum. We got clear looks at him for several minutes, from several different angles, and were both filled with the joy of a lifer until I went to the back of the tree and realized that we were looking at nothing more than a misshapen limb.
When I was in my 30s, I discovered a gorgeous Burrowing Owl asleep on a mound next to a prairie dog hole in the Black Hills. I showed it to my kids through the spotting scope, and they were all thrilled, but wanted a closer look. So we crept a few steps closer, and a few more. The bird was sleeping, which started seeming rather odd--that it didn't open its eyes once to look at us--until we got within three feet of him and I realized it wasn't an owl at all--it was a mound of buffalo dung. So, my dear Forest, don't blame your age. Roger Tory Peterson once mistook a blue bottle floating out in the water for a rare seabird. It happens, and although it can be disappointing when a lifer is at stake, it makes for wonderful stories afterward. Best, Laura Erickson In Ithaca until after Duluth's CBC, in Duluth until after Ithaca's CBC. On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 8:06 PM, Forest Strnad <[email protected]> wrote: > Greetings: > > Steve Weston got in touch with a PHD candidate from the U. of Minnesota > telling him about my report of a bat in our apple tree. Disappointment > follows high expectations. A person who helps us with filling our seed > feeder looked up at the "bat" today, and was disappointed to have to > report to us that what we thought was a bat was 2 or 3 leaves clinging > together. One of the things I noticed was that neither the "bat" nor the > birds bothered each other. Thanks to Steve Weston for trying to be helpful. > Sorry I was wrong. > > Some of my disappointment is that, at my age, I don't get out myself to > fill the feeders and would have discoverd my error sooner. The movement of > the "bat, object" was so rhymical, like breathing. The "bat" was about 20 > feet from our kitchen window. I was looking at it with good, Swarovsky > binoculars. It was this morning that I set up my Elite scope. > > I have had communications, via phone, twice with the PhD candidate. And he > was coming down Saturday to get the"bat". Thankfully I saved him a trip > with my disappointing news. > > Well, all this was not about birds. Sorry for my mistake. So we learn from > our errors. > > Rev. Forest V. Strnad, Faribault, Mn. > > > > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > -- -- Laura Erickson Science Editor Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 607-254-1114 If you've found this information useful, I hope you'll consider supporting our work on behalf of birds and other wildlife. In addition to knowing that you'll be making a difference for conservation, you'll receive our award-winning Living Bird magazine and informative BirdScope newsletter four times a year. We invite you to join our "force for nature." To sign up or watch our video about membership, visit http://www.birds.cornell.edu/NetCommunity/membership or call us at 1-800-843-2473. For the love, understanding, and protection of birds There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
