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The following is a piece of advice we found of interest yesterday, from a post to the "BRDBRAINS LISTSERV" in Florida.
Bob and Denise Lane / Wintering in Clearwater, Florida
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Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 23:02:56 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [BRDBRAIN] GBBC this weekend
To: [log in to unmask]
Hi,
Earlier today Rex Rowan sent out a note to his Alachua list regarding
the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend. He offered a friendly word
of advice that those watching e-Bird may want to be on the lookout for
possibly false reports due to over enthusiastic folks reporting birds
not likely to be here. It reminded me of an event from some years back.
About 15 years ago I got a call from our then chapter president, Lois
Robinson, asking if I'd go look at a video a man had called her about.
He lived in one of the older subdivisions here in Daytona Beach and the
Chevrolet dealer, whose property abutted the edge of this neighborhood,
was planning on expanding his car lot. The little home owner's
association was feeling overpowered. Lo and behold, it turned out that
this guy had not only Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in his yard but an
Ivory-billed too. These endangered species were sure to save the day
for the home owner's association. Lois had tried to explain that this
was extremely unlikely but he was adamant. I arranged to meet him at
his house and when I arrived he invited me in. He turned on his TV and
plugged in his VHS tape. He hit the fast forward button and we watched
until the first bird appeared on the screen hanging on the side of a
large oak in the backyard. It was clearly a Pileated Woodpecker. I
asked him to pause the tape and then I opened a copy of the old
Peterson guide I had with me. I showed him the differences in the book
between PIWO and IBWO and pointed out why the bird on the screen was
not an IBWO. He was reluctant to admit that he had been mistaken but
eventually seemed to accept the obvious. He said then that he was sure
of the ID of the other bird. He hit the fast forward button again and
soon we were looking at a nice male Downy Woodpecker hanging on the
side of his feeder. You could even hear the bird's calls just before it
flew into view. I again asked him to pause the tape and I pointed out
why his bird was not a RCWO since it lacked the large white cheek patch
and had a different feather pattern on its back. He was throughly
deflated at this point. We walked outside and as I walked out toward my
car he thanked me for coming over. Two days later the president of the
home owners association called Lois again and said they wanted a second
opinion.
I'll be doing the Atlantic Coast Shorebird Count tomorrow and
watching my backyard on Saturday. Have a good weekend all!
David Hartgrove
Conservation Chair/Pelican Editor,
Halifax River Audubon
Daytona Beach, FL
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