Hi all,
This is a two part post. The first part is meant to share some details on
the American White Pelican reported (via eBird) at Hoover Reservoir earlier
this week -- it sounds legit! Birders near Hoover or any of the large
bodies of water near there or to the north should definitely be on the look
out for this bird!
Second, I wanted to share a few tips for reporting rarities for anyone who
ever finds themselves asking whether or not to report a rare bird out of
concern that they'll be doubted, criticized, publicly shamed and/or tarred
and feathered for not being a world class birder. The advice is simply
meant to help provide a better understanding of what information is REALLY
important to include with such reports, so you can provide that information
up front and ward of a barrage of unexpected questions. ;)
#1 -- Hoover Reservoir American White Pelican
The bird was reported by two separate parties earlier this week (via eBird
checklist submissions) however both included minimal details describing the
observation. This left some of us scratching our heads as to whether or not
there really was a pelican at Hoover. I asked around and heard back from a
couple of other birders who visited the area around the time of each report
-- including one who went out searching for the pelican after each reported
observation -- and all of them found nothing but a Mute Swan.
After getting in touch with one observer (Craig Flockerzie, from
Preservation Parks, a birder with 20 years of experience under his belt) he
shared the following details:
"[While watching the previously reported Black-crowned Night Heron along
Oxbow Rd.] I was approached by another birder who asked me if I'd ever seen
an American White Pelican. He said that he had seen it just off of the east
side of the island. I walked with him back to where he saw it and it had
moved about 3/4 of the way across the reservoir to the northeast. We still
got a really good look at it through his spotting scope.
I returned to Oxbow yesterday afternoon (in the wind and rain) and scanned
that section of the reservoir to try to relocate it. Looking to the
southeast, I noticed a large white bird to the south of the bridge on
Sunbury Rd. that looked like it could have been the Pelican. Of course by
the time I got back to my truck and drove to the boat launch south of the
bridge, it had disappeared. I searched for around 2 hours with no luck.
[Friday] I took my wife (and good luck charm) with me and we came across
another birder with a spotting scope who was searching for the Pelican. He
spotted it northeast of Oxbow Island close to the eastern shoreline. All 3
of us got a really good look through the scope. Jen and I then drove up to
Weise Rd. and walked down the paved trail to the first bench. From that
location we looked almost due east and watched the Pelican as it was
swimming to the south."
Craig went on to point out that the bird was "100% ... not a Mute Swan" and
that the bird (and it's big orange bill) was clearly seen. He also noted
that at least one of the other observers present had given up on reporting
what he finds while birding, so that individual had no real interest in
reporting the bird.
That brings me to the second part of this post...
#2 -- Tips for reporting rare birds.
As many of you know, your reports to this email list and elsewhere (ebird,
the Birding Ohio facebook group, etc.) are invaluable contributions to the
birding community. Among other things, sharing our observations is how we
alert others to our findings and those reports often wind up as part of the
"official" natural history record of birds in Ohio. This last fact means
that some of those reports need to be reasonably well documented.
A common reason some stop sharing their "good" reports (or hesitate to do
so), is a history of being put off (often unintentioally) by more
experienced birders digging for further details. I'm not implying this is
the case of the individual mentioned above, but that situation did prompt
me to mention this here. Often, this bad experience comes in the form of
an unexpected barrage of uncomfortably critical questioning following the
report of a rare or uncommon bird. I don't want to focus on who if anyone
is at fault here, because frankly it's not worth worrying about a few bad
apples. Instead, our time is better spent focusing on what we can do as the
reporting party to keep those bad apples from chiming in to begin with.
So to that end, here's some advice for reporting rare or uncommon birds
(including any and all birds you have to "Confirm" in eBird) while avoiding
a lot of follow-up questions.
*Tip #1 -- Describe the bird, but without making an ID.* Just enough to
get across what it was that you saw or heard. Other birders will do two
things with this information: evaluate whether or not the description
matches the forthcoming ID, and (like it or not) they'll size up your
experience level. You can use this second fact to your advantage! If you
know fancy terminology for feathers or other field marks, use it. If you've
seen the species before or not, say so. If you saw the bird(s) clearly in
good light from 10 feet away, or briefly in bad light, say that too. Good
rule of thumb: too much detail isn't enough, so if you have more, include
it! :)
*Tip #2 -- After describing the details of the observation, then discuss
how you came to the stated ID.* Separating out the observation details
from the mental process of making an ID will go a long way to answering the
kinds of questions others might otherwise ask. It also helps to include
mention of any other species you ruled out, as this also helps.
*Tip #3 -- Call for backup! If you can, get the word out ASAP!* If other
birders can arrive and refind your rarity, maybe photograph it, etc. then
you'll have nothing to worry about ;)
*Tip #4 -- Practice documenting rare birds by documenting common birds.*
Here is a quick and easy exercise: take a copy of the OOS Rare Bird Report
Form (click the "document form" link at
http://www.ohiobirds.org/site/committee/about.php) and fill it out for some
really common birds. This can give you an excellent sense of what
information people might be interested in, and thus things to note next
time you encounter a local rarity. :)
Good birding,
Paul Hurtado
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