Archive for the 'Birders' Category

Here is another case of mistaken identity. This happens far too often with birders, it seems. When I put out a post to the Birding-Aus forum I didn’t quite expect to be swamped with people admitting to their mistakes.

My own embarrassing moment was spotlighting with a group from Canberra at Kingfisher Park, Far North Queensland a few years ago. We were asked to sing out if we see any eyeshine, which I dutifully did – it was a cow.

Mind you, the mistake is easily made. A cow does look vaguely similar to an owl or frogmouth. Or even a possum.

My thanks to another “Anonymous” contributor who gave me permission to publish this.

Question for readers:

When did you experience an embarrassing birding moment? Perhaps it was a mistaken identification. Perhaps you didn’t look carefully enough and were later proved wrong. Maybe the bird itself fooled you in some way.
I invite readers to submit their birding bloopers in the comments section below. If it’s good enough I might just feature it in a post of its own, with a link back to your blog (if you have one).

Here is another birding blooper – a misidentification of an object thought to be a bird. This one comes from ‘Anonymous’, an Australian birder on a visit to South Africa.

My worst moment came whilst on a twitchathon in South Africa, I called a White Stork soaring in the thermals above the car……turned out to be a hang-glider!

I would have though that the size and shape would have given it away, but then I’ve been fooled by thinking a banana skin was a Golden Whistler dead on the road (click here).

Thanks to the birder from the Birding-Aus forum who gave permission to use this blooper.

For more in this series click here.

Question for readers:

When did you experience an embarrassing birding moment? Perhaps it was a mistaken identification. Perhaps you didn’t look carefully enough and were later proved wrong. Maybe the bird itself fooled you in some way.
I invite readers to submit their birding bloopers in the comments section below. If it’s good enough I might just feature it in a post of its own, with a link back to your blog (if you have one).

Over recent days I have been featuring birding bloopers on this blog. These bloopers have been reported on the Birding-Aus forum and are used with permission from the authors. They are often hilarious and downright embarrassing.

This one comes from Dave:

I was on a BOCA outing to Cape Schank and saw the final part of a scuba diver disappear beneath the waves – and yelled out “Musk Duck”.

A few explanations are in order:

• BOCA – Bird Observers Club of Australia, one of our largest birding groups.
• Cape Schank is south of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula.
• A musk duck has a large flipper-like tail that could appear to look like a scuba diver flipper as it dives under the water.

There you go Dave – fame at last!

I have been featuring some birding bloopers – or badly misidentified birds – over recent days. This one is from the contributors to the Birding-Aus forum and comes from Eddie in Voss, Norway.

My best blooper (there have been many, but this is the best one) happened many years ago. I was half way up a mountain overlooking a lake when I saw something pink moving in the reeds.

I wasn’t birding at the time so my binoculars were in my car, but it must have been a Flamingo. I dashed back to my car and headed down towards the lake. On getting there the “bird” was still present, but it wasn’t a bird. It was a pink plastic bag that had caught on a broken reed.

From the mountain it looked like a long legged bird with a pink body. The movement was caused by the bag and the reed swaying in the wind.

I don’t know what was more pink – the plastic bag or my face.

Good one, Eddie – and thanks for permission to use your embarrassing moment.
You can check Eddie’s website Birdwatching in Norway by clicking here.

To read more birding bloopers click here.