(Be forewarned: Text is semi-turgid and wind-baggish!)

Dennis et al,

As a "dedicated" amateur, I wholeheartedly second your declaration on the
value of advanced birding ID courses. You ain't seen nuthin' yet, as the
saying goes.

As an example, one of the most important concepts I learned in my recent
"Sparrows Workshop" held in Sierra Vista, AZ (Jan 07-13) involved
analyzing head markings. These are often misrepresented in even our most
revered bird guides (eg., the Nat Geo guide). The majority of bird
paintings in the guides have museum bird skins as models. The head markings
may be very susceptible to fading and distortion in preparation of the
skins.

Our group must have spent 4 hours one day (standing in a SE Arizona
cow pasture) scrutinizing the head patterns and shoulder-area plumages of
flocks of wintering longspurs to distinquish female chestnut collareds from
McCown's WITHOUT seeing the tail markings. Yes, you can know one from
the other when you learn how to look at them. And, ya gotta learn the
names of the various types of feathers and surface anatomy stone cold!

When we were helping a graduate student mist-net grasshopper and Baird's
sparrows, we learned that two small post-orbital facial spots are
diagnostic in the Baird's. These are understated or not even present in
commonly used guides.

Yes, recreational birding is great fun and a real stress-reliever, but
those amateurs who really do want to contribute to the knowledge base
will have to go beyond the traditional guides. Taking the intensive
course on SE Arizona wintering sparrows was excruciatingly enlightening!
Even with 30!years of experience, I am dismayed at how superficial my own
birding skills still are. Thank goodness you can do this your entire life,
assuming vision and some hearing stay reasonably intact; it'll
take all that time to learn and UN-learn and re-learn and
re-learn............

I found local courses (such as Dennis's through the Audubon Society)
multiple times (yep) to be a great resource of knowledge. Sign up early to
get a place, because there is a growing population of amateur bird
watchers who want to become better field ornithologists. Yes, you do
have to save money and plan ahead for this advanced education, but it's
an exciting worthwhile goal to attain the credibility and be truly
capable of making a contribution.

Thank you, Dennis, for taking the time to provide insight.

Maureen Ellis, me2 at u.washington.edu, Seattle, WA USA
***********************************************************************
On Thu, 8 Feb 1996, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> Ray Korpi forwarded to me this material:
>
> > Andy said,
> >
> *Plumage characteristics*, and lots of them, are still the essence of
> ...........................ID.
>
> We badly need advanced bird ID courses for birders, in which all the
> factors that go into making birds look as they do--basic plumage variation,
> molt, albinism and other plumage aberrations, lighting, effects of weather
> conditions, etc.--are clearly pointed out.
>
> Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
> Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
> University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
> Tacoma, WA 98416
>
>
>