[obol] The Satanic Verses of Field Guides

Tue Nov 21 19:27:28 PST 2006

No sightings.

Several years ago, I had the good fortune of hearing both David Sibley and
Kenn Kaufman speak at the Field Musuem of Natural History in Chicago,
Illinois.  From my perspective, they both came across as quite humble, and
spoke of ever-evolving field guides.

The one thing I most remember from that day is that Sibley said there were 3
species in his field guide that he never saw alive, and that the hardest
species for him to illustrate was the American Crow, a bird that he said he
never really paid much attention to until it came time to illustrate it.

I also attended a training session/lecture being given by Bill Clark
(co-author with Brian Wheeler of Hawks of North America).  I didn't stop
writing the entire time -- he provided much more information on
identification techniques for raptors than any succinct field guide could
ever contain (as well as corrections to his field guides).  The class then
walked to a raptor watch tower with him, and he continued to throw out tips
on fly-by raptors.  No one book could possibly contain the knowledge in that
man's brain.

When I'm challenged with a bird identification, I routinely have anywhere
from 4-7+ field guides open (including European/Asian guides for American
birds), and find that most field guides, if not all, add something unique to
identification.  Throw in the internet and forums like this, and it becomes
clear that we live in a time of rapid field idenfication techniques.
Although mistakes are bound to be published, it seems as if they won't last
long without detection and healthy discussion.  And I suspect most, if not
all, authors/publishers would love to hear from the greater birding
community about possible errors in their guides.

Scott Carpenter
SW Portland

On 11/21/06, Darrel Faxon <5hats at peak.org> wrote:
>
> Lars and all,
>     Not to mention that the very best illustration drawn from a study skin
> can never precisely or adequately address the appearance of a living bird,
> particularly if it is in somewhat less (or more) than "normal" plumage; or
> if it is exhibiting an unusual posture (Hey Maybe Audobon's illustrations
> weren't so bad after all!); or if the subjective view of the observer was
> fleeting or in odd light; or...........
>
> Darrel
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lars and Gail Norgren" <gnorgren at earthlink.net>
> To: "obol" <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 6:16 PM
> Subject: [obol] The Satanic Verses of Field Guides
>
>
> >      I have been ruminating over this for
> > some time, and since Greg touches on it broadly
> > today it seemed appropriate to ask "How
> > far can we trust field guides? Especially their
> > illustrations?"  It came to me when David Irons
> > was trying to pin down the ID on an immature jaeger
> > at Fern Ridge in Sept.. He referred to the picture
> > in the National Geographic guide and I wondered if
> > the artist involved actually knew immmature jaegers
> > better than David. Probably not. How many hours
> > in the field had that artist spent actually watching
> > each species and age class of jaeger? How many dozen
> > cabinet specimens had she examined of each species
> > before painting the ideal synthesis of them? When
> > hundreds of species are involved we all must admit
> > this is an impossible standard, yet it seems like a lot
> > of us operate under the assumption that that's how
> > all these guides are illustated.
> >     I know I have spent hours looking at pictures
> > in hopes that I can make a definitive call on a
> > bird I saw for seconds. What if the artist never
> > saw the bird herself? So Sibley gives us 6000
> > images. None of us is assuming he looked at 6000
> > different birds. But how many will compare all
> > of them at equal value of accuracy? The only other
> > massive book I know of illustrated by one person
> > is Lars Jonsson's Birds of Europe. While wondering
> > about jaegers some whim caused me to open this
> > book and behold, the most dazzling pictorial of
> > juvenile jaegers you ever dreamed of. Four entire
> > pages of the book, two of them with 23 images of
> > juveniles only. A month later, while reading Greg's
> > website information on pelagic birds, I stumbled
> > over the fact that Jonsson is a world authority on
> > jaegers. So no worries there. But the guy isn't 900
> > years old. He can't possibly do the same with every
> > group of birds in the book.
> >      It turns out National Geographic uses a multitude
> >  of artists and I even know one of them.
> > I  doubt he has seen all the birds he illustrated,
> > and you can bet the next time we meet I'm going to
> > find out as much as I can about his methodology, and
> > if NG provided him with a protocol. I am in no way
> > trying to diminish their accomplishments. What little
> > time I have spent drawing and painting birds from live
> > and dead models puts me in total awe of all these
> > illustrators. I just think people should keep it all
> > in perspective. These references are works in progress,
> > not the absolute truth. But the mere fact that they
> > have been published seems to give them a credibility
> > bigger than life.
> >      I think there is real potential for online fora such
> > as this to contribute to progress in advanced ID technique.
> > I imagine some readers find it tedious. THe beauty of this
> > forum is that one can pass over any and everything at complete
> > whim. Allow the obsessive/compulsives to hash it out and
> > it might result in a better field guide.
> > Lars Norgren MANNING OREGON
> >
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