Hi COBirders,
This morning I found myself scanning a local reservoir where some loons
have been reported. It was a beautiful scene with the newly frosted
mountains reflected on the still surface of the water, and the gloriously
warm sun rising to my left.
Almost immediately I found a loon diving in the NE corner, slightly
backlit, but clearly a Common Loon, with its large bill and somewhat knobby
forehead. A nice sighting, but I was looking for its rarer cousin, a
Pacific Loon reported yesterday. I found two more Common Loons, and then a
smaller loon popped up that I assumed was the Pacific. But I lost it
fumbling around with digiscoping gear.
About 20 minutes later I found a smaller loon that wasn’t too far away,
providing plenty of time to study. What I did was tick off all the reasons
that it wasn’t a Common Loon, so it must be the Pacific, right? Down it
went on my ebird list. Not long after some other birders showed up, and I
saved them the time of scanning by pointing out the “Pacific.”
Only later did I see the report of a Red-throated Loon from the same
location. Mild panic rising, I asked the observer if there were both
Pacific and Red-throated present, but even as I texted I suspected that I’d
blown the ID, and worse, infected others with the same case of “birding
bias,” that bad habit associated with chasing other people’s sightings
where we simply see what we’re looking for rather than carefully analyzing
what we’re looking at.
I thought I’d share this story as a way of apologizing to those who I
pointed out the “Pacific” to, but also because it’s something I’m sure many
can relate to. Misidentifying birds is something I’ve gotten good at over
the years, and I don’t think there’s any shame in goofing an ID. But of
course it sucks to have had the opportunity to correctly ID a good bird
that was right there in my scope.
It’s a reminder to be vigilant.
Good birding everyone!
Best,
Peter Burke
Boulder, CO
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