Hello Marian,


What you found was very special. You also got a good photograph!


Some people will be skeptical based upon past reports of rare sightings by others that were falsely or incorrectly identified. I am sorry to hear that you may have received harsh responses from anyone.


No one will ever know and can only speculate about how the bird arrived at that location. I believe that most species of animal including humans, are always testing and stretching the boundaries of their historic habitats and that this is a very old and fundamental part of DNA - even given mountain ranges, vast oceans and harsh climatic transitions. Bird species on Hawaiian Islands? Impossible. Cranes flying over the Himalayan mountains in migration? HA! But then there were those pesky explorers with samples and later, photos and videos. From an evolutionary biology standpoint (I understand that there are others which are not necessarily mutually exclusive), how did animals and plants fill every available niche on Earth and refill after epic events like large asteroid collisions or far-reaching, advancing ice sheets and glaciers? Of course, most of these may be due to genetic variations or "navigational accidents". But every thing was new, unexpected and incredible when it first arrived or was seen.


I also believe that rare species are around us and undetected each year. For example, if the Burrowing Owl had landed one mile away from Renton, up river, in the woods, would it have been found? Sometimes, people may not report because they are afraid they could be mistaken and criticized. Sometimes people may miss them because they seem impossible and their minds will not entertain or accept the possibility. I favor sharing information with others and risking making an occasional error and then, learning from generous others.


I reflect upon the first American Indians watching a relatively large boat make shore with white men in strange plumage approach. Surely the Indians, when telling their friends and other tribal nation members the story would have been met with laughter, some ridicule and incredulous wonder. A large boat that road the wind, had crossed a sea with no end, carried a few men, white men who seemed to want to stay for a while, searching for local food to prevent starvation, seemed impossible. Can you imagine the problems this caused for the record keepers of oral histories? "It's like that rare bird we saw last season, it will be with us for a few days and then be gone. This rare and wonderful sighting will be told around our fires for forever."


Thank you for sharing the information with Tweeters. You found something special and you can count on it.


Best regards and I look forward to your posts of future finds.
Dan Reiff
"Dan Reiff, PhD" <notcalm at comcast.net>









----- Original Message -----
From: "Marian Murdoch" <marianmurdoch at yahoo.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sunday, April 4, 2010 4:53:35 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [Tweeters] All I wanted was an ID

Maybe I'm not strong enough to be a birder. Maybe I should just quietly go about my observations and let the "unknowns" pile up in my files as I used to do. All I wanted to know was what this little yellow headed bird was that I saw while on vacation. I got some nice emails, sure, but I'm also getting some rather nasty ones. People pointing fingers at me, saying I am lying, that there is no way this bird was found where I saw him. One even accused me of photo-shopping it. Again, I am dismayed by some of the members on this list. I never said, "hey look... I found something that could go into the records!" I didn't even know what it was, for goodness sake. For all I knew, people were going to say, "pshaw...that's so common I can't believe you can't find it in your book." Honestly, I'd rather that was the response I got.

All I wanted was an ID.

Marian Murdoch
Belfair, Wa
marianmurdoch at yahoo.com
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