Thanks for the reminder, especially in light of the delightful warmer weather. Deb Smith > On Mar 31, 2014, at 11:22, Kenn Kaufman <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > This message is particularly for new birders, and new subscribers to the > Ohio-birds listserve. > > Tomorrow is April 1st. Of course, many significant and worthwhile things > have happened on that date; for example, it was the birthday of my friend, > the late Ted Parker, the most amazing field ornithologist that I ever met. > > But April 1st is also celebrated, in some quarters, as April Fools' Day; > and as a result, we have to be careful about believing rare bird reports on > that date. In the past, there have been many such "April Fools' rarity > reports" on this and other listserves. Sometimes these are outlandish and > genuinely funny. But at other times they have been written in a very > serious tone, in a very plausible way, with only a few subtle clues to tip > off the experts that these aren't real reports. In some cases, eager new > birders have jumped in their cars and headed off to chase these reported > "rare birds." When that happens, the "joke" is not funny at all. In my > opinion, any prank that targets beginners is a bad thing for birding. > > Of course, genuine rare birds may show up on April 1st, just as on any > other day, so we shouldn't ignore rarity reports altogether! But if you see > a report tomorrow that seems too good to be true, I recommend that you > check it out thoroughly before you actually head out to pursue it. > > Kenn Kaufman > Oak Harbor, Ohio > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]