Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 14:14:07 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Laura M. Appelbaum" Subject: GWF vs Greylag MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Throwing in my two cents (or maybe it's a dime) here on this issue as an intermediate birder ... Last year (or was it the year before?) there was a lot of talk on this list about a Greater White-Fronted Goose (which is not yet on my very short life list) hanging out over at Lake Artemesia in Greenbelt, so a friend and I (he's a beginning birder) drove over to check it out. We immediately spotted the bird, which was with a bunch of Canada Geese eating bread a small child was throwing to them. Given that the rumor was that this was a wild bird from Greenland, I thought this behavior was somewhat odd, but hey, better birders (or so I figured) than I were reporting it as a GWF goose, so what did I know? We pulled out our Peterson's and National Geographic Guides (having deemed Sibley too heavy to bother to bring to ID a bird someone else had already identified) and started looking for the requisite field marks. The over-all color was right, and while the white band at the base of the bill seemed awfully small, it was there. But what struck me as we continued to study the bird -- at very close range, because it was *still* hugging the shoreline with the habituated Canadas -- was the enormous white butt on the bird; if the bird had been a woman in a rap video, they'd be singing "baby got back." In some ways, it almost seemed like the most distinctive feature of the bird, and yet in studying Peterson's there were no arrows pointing to the bird's undercarriage as a major field mark. Our suspicions grew. As soon as we got back home we pulled out Sibley, and there it was, the bird we'd seen, down to a T, including that heavy backside, which made perfect sense on a bird that had been bred to eat, not to fly down from the Arctic. And what was it? Not a GWF, but a domestic Greylag. Convinced of my intuition, I promptly posted to the group here my findings, and within days, other birders had confirmed it. Greylag, not GWF went down on my informal life list. Why am I bothering you with this long story? Because it goes to the inverse of what Jed said in his post: "Observers need to accumulate field experience and be willing to seek the help of more experienced observers without feeling intimidated or afraid of being found in error." Birders also need to be willing to *challenge* more experienced observers without feeling intimidated or being afraid of accusing *them* of being mistaken! I think that all too often in this "game" those of us who are less advanced birders swallow whole whatever someone who presents themselves as being an "expert" says. I see a small black dot in the distance and someone with a more expensive pair of binoculars declares it's a bird I've never identified before. I have two choices; I can tick it off unquestioned as a new bird on my list, or I can challenge it; what makes you think that's what it is? What in the bird's flight pattern or song or location makes you think so? Consult *all* your field guides, collect other birders' input, but when it all comes down to it, whether you've got 700 birds on your list or 200, go with your gut and don't be afraid to say "I think you're wrong." It's the only way we all learn anything. Laura Appelbaum Colesville, MD >