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Mistakes Were Made

Mistakes Were Made

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Savannah Sparrow

Sparrows are notoriously difficult to ID. Savannah Sparrow

Each morning my inbox is full of rare bird alerts from eBird. Before deciding to pursue a rare bird, I carefully review the unconfirmed reports to ascertain whether I think the ID is reliable. It’s so easy to make mistakes – identifying birds can be super hard!

It always makes my heart sink when I receive an email informing me that I’ve misidentified a rare bird. The local eBird admin reaches out for clarification or to request a correction in the list. After all, eBird is used by researchers and conservationists in their studies, and they need a reliable data set, especially when it comes to a bird that it out of its range.

Although it’s difficult to absorb that your public rare bird posting was in error, I (eventually) see mistakes as a good teaching moment. It builds our knowledge about particular species, and we can apply this the information in the future.

I now know that Red-breasted Sapsuckers in the winter may have worn feathers that affects the amount of red in the head and breast, i.e. not a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Immature Ferruginous Hawks can have stripes on their tails, which I did not find in any of my field guides (I did find a couple examples in the Macauley Library media). A young European Starling venturing out for the first time looks super weird and does not resemble the adult unless you focus in on its structure. These were lessons learned either from an eBird admin or through posting pictures to online Facebook birding groups, and this information is now burned into my brain for future use.

If you’re new to birding and use eBird to report sightings, you may find that a bird you see is rare for your area or for that time of year. If so, try to get a picture or record its vocalizations on your phone, but at the very least spend time thoroughly examining its features. Work your way from bill to tail. Examine the size and color of the bill, the eyes and facial features, patterning and colors in its wings/back/breast, and markings in the tail. Online apps such as Merlin ID and iNaturalist are great starting points, but a rare bird sighting typically requires more documentation such as media or your own description of the bird in question.

Most of all, enjoy the rare bird you spot. They are far away from home and may be visiting you for only a short moment.

December eBird Challenge – Media Submissions

December eBird Challenge – Media Submissions

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Dark-eyed Junco

I am participating in the December eBird challenge to submit 20 checklists with media attached (recordings or photos). It’s a repeat of a challenge from the spring, which I completed with ease as I recorded lots of birds singing for the breeding season. However, this month is uniquely different. In one word – rain.

We need the rain and I’ve been so happy that we finally have moisture to dampen our bone-dry hills. But I’m not about to drag my camera out into the storms. So I’m focusing on recordings again. During the downpours, the birds are generally tucked away and I’m similarly rushing for cover from the elements. When it does stop raining, the birds are out and about trying to nab food. Humans are out too and quite noisy. I’m suddenly aware of how much construction is around with various loud beeps and buzzes alerting the town to big trucks in reverse. The city noise unsurprisingly drowns out the birds in my recordings.

One morning, I tried to capture at least one recording. The birds were too far in one recording and barely audible even with the volume on max. Another attempt captured a loud garbage truck that suddenly appeared as soon as I clicked “record.” In yet another attempt, the subject stopped calling immediately after I set up the phone. I finally landed a recording of a group of Dark-eyed Juncos, although foot traffic and cars driving by were captured in the background. It’ll have to do.

Dark-eyed Junco recording. General background noise shows as a wash of dark.
Compare with this Mountain Chickadee recording with a clean, white background.

I previously wrote about the challenges of recording in an urban environment, but this December challenge seems unusually difficult, probably because outdoor activity from all creatures (birds and humans) is condensed into pockets of time between storms creating blur of competing background noise. Plus, birds aren’t quite as vocal as the spring. I find it quite interesting to see these differences from the exact same challenge in two very different months!