Well said Kenn....I have too have see the band spanking new birder, I remember when I was one (weren't we all?)......I can't add anything else. David Tan Columbus On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 3:09 PM, Kenn Kaufman <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Next Monday is April 1st: April Fool's Day. Based on past experience, it's > likely that some birders will celebrate the day by posting reports of > outlandish rare birds on various listserves. > > > These April Fool's jokes are all in good fun, as long as you're in the > know. They're usually written in such a way that the more experienced > birders can recognize them as jokes immediately. The problem is that new > birders are more likely to be taken in by them. To a new birder, no matter > how intelligent, there's nothing self-evident about the fact that a > Black-tailed Gull from Asia is a plausible vagrant to Ohio while a > Yellow-winged Tanager from Mexico is not. I have seen unfortunate cases in > which brand-new, eager birders, excited about discovery and learning, have > been tricked by these April Fools jokes and have been publicly embarrassed. > Any joke that selectively targets the beginners is a bad idea, because we > need to encourage those new birders. Bird conservation is an uphill > struggle, and birds need all the friends they can get. > > > So, by all means, let the jokes fly, and share those products of the > imagination. But if you are new to birding or new to this listserve, please > remember to look at the calendar! > > > Of course, it's possible - even likely - that genuine rare birds will be > found and reported on April 1st. But in general, the more "clever" the > report sounds, the more likely it is to be an April Fool's joke. > > > Good (real and imagined) birding to all! > > > > > Kenn Kaufman > Oak Harbor, Ohio > > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at > www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] > -- David Tan Columbus [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]