Where's the Shorebird Guide Review?
The original review of The Shorebird Guide is removed momentarily because I misidentified some of the shorebirds. Guess that means I need that book than I realized! It'll be back up after I redo it. It's not fair to the authors to say it's a great book for id and then have my misidentified photos along with it.
Lesson learned from this? You can't always be sure that the tiny object running around in your view finder that you're squinting at with the direct sun on you is the same bird. Just when I thought I could care about shorebirds again, I get this setback. I'm gonna learn to enjoy shorebirds, I will overcome this. Some how.
Now, I have to go get stuff set up for Game Fair.
Lesson learned from this? You can't always be sure that the tiny object running around in your view finder that you're squinting at with the direct sun on you is the same bird. Just when I thought I could care about shorebirds again, I get this setback. I'm gonna learn to enjoy shorebirds, I will overcome this. Some how.
Now, I have to go get stuff set up for Game Fair.
posted by birdchick at 7:55 AM
9 Comments:
After a year of rather intense bird watching I still find shorebirds, at least the small ones, nearly impossible to identify from photographs since it’s too late to accurately judge size.
Unfortunately, they’re too common here in the Pacific Northwest to ignore them.
Thanks Loren,
Maybe if I was exposed to shorebirds more often I would put forth more effort too.
I do enjoy the big obvious shorebirds--curlews, stilts, avocets (I can never have enough avocets), but Baird's, least, white-rumped---ugh, I feel like I'm in 7th grade science class again--yaaaaaaaaawn. I think the three areas where I need the most improvement in my skills are small shorebirds, gulls and empidonax flycatchers (double ugh on empids).
Anybody else care to share what birds they can't get excited about?
Also, has anyone else noticed that hte words keep getting longer in word verification...not good for someone who has enough trouble spelling actual words correctly.
Perhaps God miscolored the birds.
Shorebirds and gulls float my boat. Warblers do not. I have to hang my head in shame each May when the big warbler waves come through and I don't drop everything for them. I hear all of massbird.org laughing at me. :-)
I second the empid thing. They all look the same to me.
I live in northeast Minnesota and we have virtually no shorebird migration to speak of. I learned shorebird identification by spending many years looking at them. Learning peeps over night or spending a weekend at a shorebird workshop will not do. It may help but spending lots of time in the field is the way to go.
This is true with warblers in the fall season and other passerines. In the past 5 years I been spending a lot of my fall season not looking at raptors but studying jaegers. If you think peeps or fall plumage warblers are tough, try identifying juvenile parasitic jaegers! Identification books are great source of help but the field experience is what really counts.
That is why to be a good birder you have to be a geek about it (-;
MH
You guys are all WAY over my head! I am a backyard birdwatcher and not much more. I bow to you experienced birders and am genuinely amazed at your abilities! I still dont't have a grip on sparrows, never mind shorebirds, gulls and flycatchers...
Gulls. Gulls. Gulls. Shorebirds. And fall warblers.
Being a midwesterner, I don't see these most of these guys regularly, so gulls, in all their varied plumages, drive me bonkers. I have it down to: 1) Ring-billed gull (our winter mall parking lot residents) 2) Herring gull (the "other white meat") and 3) something else.
Shorebirds: I already admitted my ineptitude here. Killdeer and Not-killdeer are the two options.
Fall warblers. Ugh. I don't even try.
Janet: I spent 10 years trying to learn warblers in their spring migration. Trouble is, you just about get them figured out and they are gone for a year. This spring, I visited the Magee Marsh boardwalk in May (on Migratory Bird Day, as a matter of fact) and got "warblered-out." The birds are numerous, close, and really easy to see. I got so I would hear "Golden-winged Warbler!" and say, "Yeah, seen it." I *finally* got a good handle on them with this trip, and these two resources: the Stokes' "Field Guide to Warblers," and the CD's "Birding by Ear" and "More Birding by Ear." Will I know them NEXT spring? I think so.
Empids. Yeah, they are tough, but there are only what- 4 or 5 of them -plus, everyone else understands when you say "Empid flycatcher" and they don't rag you about it. So, I figure it is OK to let them go.
Lynne: I date my beginnings as an active birder (instead of a passive birdwatcher) to the winter I sat down and decided to sort out all the LBB (Little Brown Birds) and learn my sparrows. Once you learn a few basics, sparrows are pretty easy. And a lot prettier and more interesting than some people give them credit for.
Kathi
Anyone can be a self-proclaimed expert in anything. As with most things involving science, bird-watching(aka ornithology), is a science, and takes decades of learning to master. All of us are humbled my mistakes and learn from them.
Keep it up birdchick you'll get the hang of it.
I have to say I appreciate the strength of someone saying out loud that they give up on spring warblers. It's not every day you read someone giving up the ghost on colorful birds.
Although, there are some in the raptor community who only acknowledge two types of birds: Raptors and Raptor Food.
I appreaciate everyone's support and encouragement. Here's a phone call from today.
A Phone Call:
NBB: Hi, how are you.
BC: Fine.
NBB: Are you sure, how you doin'?
BC: Fine. Really. Why are you talking to me like this, what's wrong?
NBB: I saw you misidentified a bird in you blog, I just wanted to see if you were okay.
I'm getting sympathy from a non birder?? Bless my husband's heart!
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