[obol] "the books are wrong" -- was RE: hesperis

[Paul T. Sullivan]

OBOL:

I agree with Greg Gillson that one has to go beyond standard field guides 
for detailed information on the distribution and identification of local 
forms of birds.  Agree 100%.

Thanks, too, to Greg for pointing out the articles that appeared in Oregon 
Birds 18-19 years ago.  I'm sure I read them at the time, and they informed 
my knowledge of the Northwestern Crow.

That said, I must say that nothing more frustrates a rank-and-file birder 
than to hear an expert say, "The Field Guides are wrong; they don't show our 
local birds."   If one is to play the game of birding, one wants to be able 
to see the bird, look it up, and find its name.  With practice, one can 
become quite proficient.  One learns to associate birds with their habitats, 
ranges, etc, etc.  Then one day, standing at a viewpoint, one hears,  "The 
Field Guides are wrong,"  and one wonders, "Who is this know-it-all?" and, 
"If I can't trust the book, who can I trust?"

At this point, there is a crisis of faith.  One may be tempted to quit the 
game altogether, for without field guides where does one go?

That's where the person who KNOWS needs to gently take the uninitiated by 
the hand and show them the way.  Slowly.  Not with a gruff, dismissive air, 
full of hair-splitting verbiage, references, etc.  Some uninitiated folks 
will simply not care and not want all the details.  Let them go kindly.

For those who want to know, personal research, coupled with didactic 
teaching, reliably beats "guess the unidentified bird in the photo" as far 
as I am concerned.  I never was any good at that game, and don't care to 
learn.

If one is led, and not intimidated, one can learn -- as much as one chooses 
to learn.  And one can not care about fine points, as much as one chooses to 
not care.

Good birding, everyone,

Paul T. Sullivan

"...all the people who can identify a dusky flycatcher when they see one,
... won't add up to enough votes to elect a mayor.... You like those little
red birds, whatever they're called?  So do I.... You're a birder, and we're
pals."
             Kenn Kaufman -- BirdWatcher's Digest, Nov-Dec 2001

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[obol] hesperis
Greg Gillson greg at thebirdguide.com
Wed Oct 31 15:41:22 PDT 2007


> There really is the meat for a comprehensive article for Oregon Birds
> or Washington Birds about Northwestern Crows, their existence and
> range. That could expand the circle of TWK and reduce the need to
> correct mistaken reports. ;-)


You mean, like these?

Bayer, R. (1989): Are "small" crows along the Oregon coast necessarily
Northwestern Crows? Oregon Birds 15: 277-279.

Bayer, R. (1989): Measurements of possible Northwestern Crows from
Oregon. Oregon Birds 15: 281-284.

Paulsen, I. (1989): Northwestern Crow distinction? Oregon Birds 15: 279-280.

Paulson, D. (1989): Northwestern Crow distinction? Maybe not. Oregon
Birds 15: 285.

Roberts, C. (1990): More on the Northwestern Crow in Oregon. Oregon
Birds 16: 223-224.

> - Washington State doesn't even list the species,
> - Oregon lists Northwestern Crow, but has no accepted records.

Sometime between 1999 and 2006 the Oregon Bird Records Committee
removed Northwestern Crow from the Oregon list. Every year the changes
to the checklist are printed in Oregon Birds. The reason Northwestern
Crow was removed from the Oregon list is detailed in Oregon Birds in
the OBRC report. I don't have the exact citation. You'll have to look
this up yourself. Some homework for you. Bottom line, there is no
proof that Northwestern Crow has ever occurred in Oregon. All museum
specimens of purported Northwestern Crowns in Oregon were shown to be
misidentified.


Any time one has a question about OREGON birds the first reference
consulted should be:

Birds of Oregon: A General Reference. 2006. Edited by David B.
Marshall, Matthew G. Hunter, and Alan L. Contreras.


You can't adequately learn how to identify local birds from a field
guide. Field
guides are NOT suitable references for location-specific ID
(subspecies), status, or range questions. Please remember that field
guides are general purpose tools, homogenized, mass-marketed,
dumbed-down, and out-dated before they're printed. The illustrations
are an average of plumage extremes across often wide variations. If
someone says that a bird (even a crow) looked just like a field guide
illustration, then they didn't look closely enough. The range maps are
generic, never meant to show exactly where each and every bird may or
may not appear. This is not to say that field guides don't have their
purpose; they do.

Field guides are the beginning of your bird identification journey.
Don't get stuck at the trail head. Explore!

Greg ("Can I be a curmudgeon, too?") Gillson
greg at thebirdguide.com