At 06:10 PM 5/22/99 -0700, Michael Price wrote:

> Both are a matter not only of experience in
>fine-point discrimination of sound-qualities but also of knowing where one's
>limitations are. In the latter case, field-notes describing the song/call
>will help when hitting the books afterward or asking someone more
>experienced with the local avifauna.

One key is to be willing and able to say "I don't know". I know
that in the hawk migration counting world, there can be tremendous
pressure to label each and every bird seen, whether leisurely
drifting by close enough to ID without binoculars or a couple of
miles away. Standing one's ground and marking down "unknown"
can take a certain amount of self-assurance when you're working
for someone who disparages "missed" IDs (which does happen, I'm
afraid).

Same with ID'ing by ear when surveying in the woods.

As Michael says, you must know your limitations. If you don't,
how will you ever have the confidence to either ID, or not ID,
a particular bird by sight or sound?

The simplistic notion that "only visual ID's should count"
ignores the field knowledge of large numbers of birders and
ornithologists alike.

> I can also say from experience that if
>on any given survey day I actually *saw* more than 5% of the birds included
>on that day's survey, it was pure luck.

Hey, and while identifying migrating hawks, one never 'hears' more
than 5%. :)




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