[mou] ID skills retooling

[Sharon Stiteler]

I have to agree that today, there are plenty of digital tools to use  
to confirm id.  You can get great digital cameras at very reasonable  
prices that will even take small video and have a decent microphone  
to at least pick up the call.  Not to mention digiscoping with a  
digital camera and your binoculars.

And I'm no "high priestess of birding" but I get my fair share of id  
questions through my website.  I get sent many photos with incorrect  
ids, or photos of what I think are common birds, but people don't  
know what they are.  I've also experienced this picking up injured  
birds for The Raptor Center, people will call in and swear it's a  
raptor, right down to the curved beak and talons.  When you get  
there--it's a pigeon!  Even I've developed a certain amount of  
skepticism--just last night, I had someone telling me about a  
northern harrier taking out pigeons and nesting along University  
Avenue in Minneapolis--there's no doubt in my mind that it's a  
Cooper's hawk without even looking at it just based on where it was  
and how the hunting style was described.  So, I understand why  
records committees and more experienced birders don't always take and  
unusual sightings at face value.

It's just all part of the joy and learning curve that is birding.


Sharon Stiteler
www.birdchick.com
Minneapolis, MN


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