Subject: problematic bird reports
Date: Feb 8 20:11:36 2002
From: Netta Smith - nettasmith at attbi.com


Hello all.

I was just browsing and noticed a sighting of 59 Western Sandpipers at
Magnuson Park on Feb 7. That would be so unlikely as to deserve further
documentation. Dunlins are quite common visitors to Magnuson and elsewhere
along the shoreline of Puget Sound, but I don't know of records of Western
Sandpipers in the same areas, especially not in winter (even in migration,
they're usually in ponds rather than on the lake shore). A House Wren was
reported in the same paragraph, and it's not a bird that winters here (and
is actually quite rare in Seattle at any time). Our Marsh Wrens are duller
than those pictured in some field guides and have often been the source of
"House Wren" reports.

No offense meant to any beginning birders who report possibly incorrect
sightings on tweeters - everyone has to learn - but it gives me some anxiety
to think that such reports will then be taken as fact by *other* beginning
birders who don't have the perspective of knowing what should or shouldn't
be around. Some (many?) tweeters will then themselves think that it's
nothing unusual to find a big flock of Western Sandpipers and a House Wren
in Magnuson Park in winter. This may lead to the reporting of 59 Spoonbill
Sandpipers and a Musician Wren one of these days - hard drugs will be next!

I wish there were a way to filter sightings before they were published on
the internet, but of course there isn't in an open society, and I'm the last
one who wants to squelch enthusiasm in observers. Yet I'm disturbed by the
potential for misleading information. In fact, I consider that sometimes a
greater problem with tweeters than some of the controversial discussions we
have, and of course that's why I jump in as the house critic on bird
sightings. I don't suppose Dan will impose on us a "no bogus sightings"
rule!

The only solution to this problem that I can envision is for all birders to
gain a reasonably good knowledge of the status of bird species in the area,
so they can be assured that the species they are reporting are likely ones
(or if they are not, then what more needs to be said about them). Birding is
a sport and a hobby for many, which is great, but the reporting of bird
sightings on a public forum is - to me - a somewhat more serious endeavor.

Dennis Paulson
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115