Birding Bloopers #11
No Comments »28th February, 2007; Category: Birders, Birding bloopers, Owls Frogmouths and Nightjars
Here is another entry in the current series of birding bloopers from the contributors to the Birding-Aus forum. This one comes from John and Ruth who were birding in the UK at the time.
Our birding blooper happened in UK in 1997. We were staying at a B&B on a pig farm in Lincolnshire. It was wet and foggy (what’s new) when we drove out past the pig sheds. There on one shed was a horned owl of some sort.
After screeching to a halt I made a mad grab for the camera and 400mm lens. Beauty we got off a couple of shots. Being in a hurry we moved on and our films were being sent to a processor who forwarded the finished prints to our daughter in London.
When we got to London we said did you see the great owl photos, her reply was less than enthusiastic “hadn’t we noticed the hook on the owls head for hanging it up”. It must have been there as some sort of deterrent to keep undesirables away from the pig sheds.
My thanks to John and Ruth who gave permission for me to use this.
To read more 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 #10
No Comments »27th February, 2007; Category: Bird Behaviour, Birders, Birding bloopers, Ravens and Crows
Anthea is a regular contributor to the Birding-Aus forum. She has given me permission to quote her intriguing encounter with a Little Raven that had a very interesting taste for the unusual. And as with all the bloopers featured on my blog, Anthea thought the bird was eating something completely different.
I was on the beach at Point Lonsdale, some years ago, observing a Little Raven which appeared to be subduing prey. Heavy pecks were repeatedly directed at something on the sand, and I was pretty sure I could see a long thin tail thrashing about. It picked up the prey item and flew to a low branch. I hastily took a photo! More pecking and thrashing – was that a small black leg and foot, with claws, beside the tail ? Small mammal, say a mouse? I was quite excited by the time it dropped the item and flew off.
I hastened to investigate … It was part of a dried, black mummified banana peel divided into a number of longways strips – one narrow one was the tail, a truncated, ragged shorter part was the leg. What the Raven found to eat on it I really don’t know!
Thanks to Anthea for her contribution.
Read more birding bloopers 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 #9
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).
Birding Bloopers #8
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).
Birding Bloopers #7
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!