At 10:29 AM 5/22/99 -0700, Mary Manson wrote:

>I have been waiting for someone to explain to me why I felt that ID by ear
>is not acceptable - just in case somebody *really* thought it was .....
>and this seems to be a fairly good explanation on why NOT .....

Well, the reality is that identifying by call note - which is what
the letter you're responding to is discussing - is far more
difficult in many cases than identifying by song.

And, good birders have a good idea of which birds are difficult
to separate by ear, and which are not.

And, of course, there are also species which can be easier
to identify by ear than by sight.

Your comment indicates a very simplistic view of the
identification problem...



- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
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