In a message dated 2/4/2006 12:23:26 AM GMT Standard Time, sgmlod at aol.com
writes:


Greetings All

Somehow, I feel we are in danger of wandering into arguing semantics and
esoteria, but I think one point needs to be made.

Books are written on identification, and they often discuss subjective
"jizz" differences between species, such as fierce vs cute, flat headed vs round
headed, etc. These work well in the field and are often very useful. They are
the combination of thousands of images that your brain gathers as you watch
the bird(s).

These marks can be very dangerous when used with photos alone. Indeed, the
Kent bird looks "fierce" in some photos and relatively "cute" in others. Even
a dozen photos can be inadequate to relate a bird's true "jizz." I've seen
this in ID articles wherein a species is supposed to look "long-necked" and you
find multiple photos in which the bird looks anything but. That's because a
single (or a few) photos can be quite misleading. The internet has allowed us
to evaluate a great number of interesting and confusing birds via looking at
photos, but subjective "jizz" marks must be used very carefully in such
birds. I put much more weight on the impressions of folks that actually observed
the bird.

I also believe that to truly know a species' jizz, one needs to know the
species well in the field, not just from photos. Just my opinion.

Cheers
Steven Mlodinow
Everett WA



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Sometimes I feel that Tweeters is a forum for WA's foremost birders and not
a place where non-experts can really participate or learn something Here and
there a thread is opened:( Iceland vs. Glaucous, some goose vs. another,
Ferruvginous vs.Red-tailed) and it's sometimes impossible to follow the thread
because one "expert" replies to "another " but not necessarily via
Tweeters. I'd like to make a suggestion re the identification of gulls: Kenn
Kaufman's Advanced Birding." It is very helpful for identifying our Pacific
Northwest and other gulls. Sincerely, Murray
Hansen