Birding Bloopers #16
It is amazing the difficulties that birders get themselves into from time to time. Over recent weeks various birders have shared the errors of their ways while out birding. Some have made very strange identifications but today’s contribution is a beauty. The size, shape, colour and sound all indicates a non-bird ID, but no… well read for yourself.
I have too many to list but I’ll happily pass on someone else’s birding blooper.
We were at Phillip Island in Victoria, watching seabirds from the cliffs on the ocean side. I was looking out to sea, my friend was looking back at the muttonbird colony.
She nudged me and said, ‘What bird is that?’
I trained my binoculars on the object that was emerging from behind the bushes.
It was the rescue helicopter.
Thanks to Snail from A Snail’s Eye View for this contribution.
To read 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).
Birding Bloopers #15
Stephen Ambrose is a regular contributor to the Birding-Aus forum and he has also contributed to this series of posts on birding bloopers. His experience just goes to show several facts about birds:
- Birds are unpredictable.
- Birds do not read the field guides
- Birds never follow your script
- Birds convince you that you must expect the unexpected.
Here is Stephen’s account.
A single Powerful Owl had been recorded roosting by day in bushland adjacent to a major construction site in the Ryde/Lane Cove area of Sydney. The edge of the construction envelope was only 40 m from where the owl had been recorded roosting so, quite understandably, some local residents were concerned that construction activities (which were 18 hrs/day) would disturb both roosting and foraging behaviours of this owl.
This led to me being contracted by the construction company to monitor the use of the bushland by this and possibly other Powerful Owls over a period of several months as partial means of addressing the concerns of the public. The Powerful Owl in question was a young male which did not appear to have a mate or be part of a family group during the period of investigation. It continued to use the same roost site nightly for the 1st month of surveys, after which it disappeared. Four more months of surveys went by without encountering the owl at this roost site.
Eventually the time came for the construction company to begin its work. At this point I was asked to educate the construction workers about Powerful Owls (habitat requirements, general ecology, how to identify them by sight and sound, etc) as part of their worksite induction. Towards the end of the induction session I took the workers for a stroll through the bushland to show them where the owl had been roosting previously. On the way to this site I said to them confidently “we will not see the bird because it has not been there for the last 4 months, but it is useful to identify the area that should not be disturbed”. Famous last words – within 2 minutes of uttering them we arrived at the site and there was the roosting Powerful Owl with a partially eaten possum in its talons! The construction workers were highly amused and I was a little red-faced. The timing of its return could not have been better timed!
Two years down the track and the construction project has just been completed. A single Powerful Owl (possibly the same one) still uses that same roost site on and off. If it is the same bird, then it still doesn’t seem to have a mate.
Stephen Ambrose
My thanks to Stephen for contributing this amusing story.
To read more birding bloopers 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).
Birding Bloopers #14
I have really enjoyed reading the birding bloopers that have been shared on the Birding-Aus forum. The contributors have been very generous in allowing me to share their embarrassing experiences here on my blog. Many of the contributions have come from Australia but there have been a few from overseas. This is the case today, with an example from Malaysia.
After several trips to Malaysia, I had collected quite a few ticks for Scarlet Minivet, mostly in montane or sub-montane habitats. Very distinctive bird, no problem with ID.
Ha.
In 1995 on a wet day in Fraser”s Hill I did a bit reading through the field guides and discovered to my horror that the Scarlet Minivet only occurs below 900m. A large percentage of my sightings had to have been Grey-chinned Minivets. After going back over my notes when I got back home, my number of Minivet sightings diminished significantly after crossing out all those sightings between 800m and 1000m due to uncertainty.
Goes to show one should always read the fine print.
One of the problems with birding in a strange location or in a new country for the first time is that you basically have to start over. The learning curve is steep, especially if birding alone like I did last year in Thailand and Nepal. Carl’s experience points to the importance of doing one’s homework. Before leaving on my overseas trip I spent at least six months studying the appropriate field guides. Sounds a good theory – until one hits the trail on your own. It’s then you realise how little you’ve remembered from the books.
Thanks to Carl for permission to publish his experience here.
To read more birding bloopers 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).
Birding Bloopers #13
I was telling my wife about all these bloopers and she reminded me about an incident in 1987 when we were camping at Lake Hattah in the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in Victoria.
We were very annoyed trying to get to sleep one night when we heard a low “ooom-ooom-ooom” sound coming from nearby. We thought that some inconsiderate campers had a power generator going. Power generators are not allowed in most National Parks.
Next morning we discovered the source of the noise – a Tawny Frogmouth perched on a branch above our tent.
Even though the frogmouth started calling again the next evening, we slept well.
To read more birding bloopers 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).
Birding Bloopers #12
This is number 12 in a series of bloopers shared by contributors to the Birding -Aus forum. It has been fascinating to record the lengths some birders go to in order to be embarrassed. It has also been great the number of birders willing to share their birding mistakes with the world.
I was with my family visiting South East Queensland a couple of years back, and we were on our way to dinner with Sue and Terry. Passing the MacDonald’s at the river crossing just south of Labrador I noticed something on the roof, perched in amongst a number of white ibis. I just had to check it out.
It was raining, but using my binoculars I could make out a definite owl of some description. I dropped Jan and Emma at the caravan park where we were staying and made my way back on foot. I carefully crept up to the building, somewhat out of sight of the customers, and my suspicions were confirmed. A definite owl – but with horns! Sensation!
However, after a short reality check I decided that what I was looking at was not a first for Australia, and neither was it an exquisitely carved banana peel, but rather a plastic owl. What it was doing there is anyone’s guess – if it was put there to keep the ibis away it was having no effect.
It’s probably still there.
Thanks to Bill for giving me permission to post this here.
To read more birding bloopers, 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).