Re: Mistakes, flubs, and other stomach-turners

Tyler Bell (bell@say.acnatsci.org)
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 10:39:58 -0400


Dave Pardoe wrote:
> Along such lines about a year ago I was with a group of Audubon people
> at the 950 acre Sheahan property near St Michael's which has been given
> to Audubon. I was standing next to Audubon's president, John Flicker,
> when someone spotted a white bird on the shore at quite a distance. They
> said, What is that?; and I replied, Probably a gull. At which point it
> took off and was clearly a Great Egret, Audubon's logo. John said, Dave,
> You will have to work on that bird. I will also have to remember to use
> my binoculars and not jump to quick conclusions. Humility is good for
> the soul, they say.

Back in 1993, Jane and I were in Delaware chasing the famous Whiskered
Tern. It was over 100F and the humidity was unbearable. The bird failed
to show throughout the day and people were wilting. Around 3:30 pm an
excellent local birder, who will remain nameless, called out
"White-winged Tern". Everyone perked up and then someone said, "I think
it's Whiskers!" It was.

The moral of the story is, if our friend hadn't called out the
white-winged tern, no-one would have looked and seen the Whiskered Tern.
I suppose everyone would have gotten on it eventually but with rarities,
you never know how long they may put in for their daily appearance. So
what if you make a mistake. Better than letting something good get away
for fear of reprisal.

On a different tack, I made a glorious blunder a couple of years ago
while Jane and I were headed toward the Dry Tortugas on the Yankee
Captain. Paul Lehman, Sandy Komito, Jane and I were sitting up on the
bow looking for whatever happened by. I was intent on spotting a
tropicbird. When we approached Hospital Key (?) there were a bunch of
Masked Boobies flying over the water. I called out "Tropicbird" even
though I knew they were Masked Boobies. My brain didn't even realize
what my mouth had done. Of course there was a scuffle as people headed
toward the bow to see my discovery. Now that was embarassing! The group
never let me forget it during our 3 day stay on the island. Of course it
was all good natured ribbing.

-- 
Good Birding!                       The probability of a given
Tyler Bell                          event occurring is inversely
mailto:bell@say.acnatsci.org        proportional to its desirability.
California, MD                 
http://www.audubon.org/chapter/md/smas/