Doubts ? String ? (1 Viewer)

Not sure what to call this, or where to put it ... the idea is to ask people whether they have any old records, maybe from when they started out, that now seem to raise questions ... Here's what I mean.

I started birding on our first holiday in the Highlands of Scotland, Jul/Aug 1958.
The only book we had was the Observer's Book of Birds.
I didn't start keeping any sort of notes or diary till a bit later.

I can remember triumphantly id'ing a Whinchat (I can still 'see' that bird and I'm happy with it). I can also remember stringing a Golden Eagle (but can't remember what it really was).

Then we arrived at Gairloch in Wester Ross, and we wandered down to the sea shore (grid ref about NG801767). There was a family of ducks on the sea, very close in. One adult was all black, and the other dark brown with pale cheeks. There were at least half a dozen half-grown fledglings. Well now, an all black duck should be easy to find in the book, leaf leaf, yes, there it is, Common Scoter. Fine. Tick. Great.

And that was that. Now ... firstly, afaik this was not in the known breeding range of Common Scoter then (it certainly isn't now, of course); and secondly, what was a drake doing still with his missus and kiddies in early August ?

Any thoughts anyone has on this would be very welcome.

Well, your duck is, given the location and circumstances, most likely to be an Eider. But, the only thing I can think of given the plumage details, is a female seen in poor light, and a moulting/near adult male. I can't think of anything else more likely.

As for other such stories, I think this subject has been covered on here before. But anyway heres mine:

I was about 8, and we were driving along a road near to where I lived in Surrey. As we sped past some open woodland, I saw a bird flying along and then landing in a tree, and the main thing I remember about it, was that it was medium-sized, and almost completely bright yellow. When I got home, I looked in my I-Spy book of birds, and saw Golden Oriole. For years I had that particular bird ticked, until I became I little wiser to the rarity of the bird. But still to this day, I really don't know what it actually was. It could have been an escape of course, and maybe I just caught a glimpse of the rump of a Green Woodpecker. But still, somehow deep inside, I feel I saw a Golden Oriole that day.

I've seen breeding Common Scoter not a million miles from Gairloch in the past, even got the odd crap photo lurking in albums of pairs on lochs. I would trust your original diagnosis if I were you.

But its good to review old records. I shudder to think of some of the things I considered ticking in my birding infancy: I once tried to make a mixed flock of Siskins and Yellowhammers into Serins.

John

John

I also made a Golden Oriole clanger when I was a kid. I remember going on an early morning walk with my dad in the countryside near to where lived in Sussex. It was very sunny that morning. I had just ID'd my first Tree Pipit [deffinate] when a large thrush sized bird came into view on a distant oak tree. Looking through my trusty Zenith 8x30's and almost into the glaring sunlight I confidently told my dad that I was looking at a Golden Oriole. He looked through his bins and agreed. Gradually as time went on,I was having great reservations about this to the point where I totally discounted it and passed it off as a ? Mistle Thrush. But my dad [ who had a interest in nature but never became a birder] continued 'til his dying days saying it was a Golden Oriole we saw that day. I couldn't convince him otherwise.
Another kiddies whopper was when me and dad again, went to Pagham Harbour on a freezing day in 1971. Looking through my Zeniths I saw what I was convinced were a flock of Red Throated Divers swimming in the harbour. They must have been 'cos my Observers Book of Birds diagram of the said divers seemed to tally up nicely. Again dad agreed. Along came another birder with some super bins. I pointed out proudly the divers. He looked out then turned to me and said quite sternly that they were Wigeon and Tufted Duck. Christ! I had the gall to answer back at this guy and said they were RTDivers. He stuck to his story and I stuck to mine. By the time we got home later in the day, I had doubted my findings and resigned to the fact that the guy with the super bins was right after all. Dad agreed.
As a regular to Pagham for many years,before moving to Ireland, I eventually found out that the guy who I had strongly disagreed with that day was a Chris Janman, a leading birder in the county at the time. Does anyone know if he is still birding there?

Farnboro John said:

I've seen breeding Common Scoter not a million miles from Gairloch in the past, even got the odd crap photo lurking in albums of pairs on lochs. I would trust your original diagnosis if I were you.

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I've also seen breeding Common Scoter quite near to Gairloch, in the 1980s.

Thank you John & Colin, that is reassuring.

As a kid I ticked Roller, sitting on wires near Kilbaha (Loop Head). I´ve no idea what it really was. Maybe a jackdaw in strong light. (Or maybe a roller...)
At Killiney Hill two friends and I magicked a sparrowhawk into a goshawk (very rare here) when we were about ten. We went to the then IWC address, which was Major Ruttledge´s, armed with "field notes" and sketches. He was very decent, accepted our story sympathetically and said he´d wait for more reports. He wrote us a very nice letter some time later saying there hadn´t been any more reports, and very gently suggesting we may have been mistaken. I can still remember the line (although the letter is long lost): "We all sometimes see what we want to see, rather than what we are actually seeing....". It has stuck with me ever since, and that was nearly forty years ago.

Sancho said:

As a kid I ticked Roller, sitting on wires near Kilbaha (Loop Head). I´ve no idea what it really was. Maybe a jackdaw in strong light. (Or maybe a roller...)
At Killiney Hill two friends and I magicked a sparrowhawk into a goshawk (very rare here) when we were about ten. We went to the then IWC address, which was Major Ruttledge´s, armed with "field notes" and sketches. He was very decent, accepted our story sympathetically and said he´d wait for more reports. He wrote us a very nice letter some time later saying there hadn´t been any more reports, and very gently suggesting we may have been mistaken. I can still remember the line (although the letter is long lost): "We all sometimes see what we want to see, rather than what we are actually seeing....". It has stuck with me ever since, and that was nearly forty years ago.

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Was that the bloke with the flocks of Lesser Short-toed Larks? How right he was.....

John