Would you tick this sighting of a Little Bittern ? (1 Viewer)

senatore · Jun 28, 2013

Last week I spent a couple of days in the Somerset Levels doing some birding.

On the Wednesday evening the weather for once was very good so I popped over to the RSPB reserve at Ham Wall. I joined a couple of birders at the Little Bittern watch point not far down the main path one of whom had spotted the male flying at reed top level.

After about 20 minutes one of the birders shouted out "There's the female" and I saw a brownish bird fly quickly at reed top level.My dilemma is :

* I saw it for only a couple of secs.

* It was a long way off (over 100m)

* No way would I have ID it on my own

This would be a life tick for me.Would you tick it ?

Max

CJW · Jun 28, 2013

Marcus Conway - ebirder · Jun 28, 2013

Robin Edwards · Jun 28, 2013

Many would Max but at the end of the day you have to be comfortable that you saw a Little Bittern I guess and nothing else.

Was the claim rebuffed by anyone on site or was it undisputedly claimed as a LB? two seconds isn't satisfactory for viewing but a bird seen well is easily identified in this time and I would expect people to claim their tick.

Thinking about my own personal ethics for ticking a bird, this often depends upon whether I've seen the species well elsewhere and whether this is a new "tick" for my patch or my British list for instance. I ticked the WTLapwing in Lancs a few years back through heat haze and at great distance but I knew it was the bird in question and I had seen them well outside of the UK.

I've not come across many twitchers that wouldn't claim their tick just because they didn't see the bird for very long - as long as they were clear that it was the bird intended and not potentially something else.

Trystan · Jun 28, 2013

For me, it boils down to, did I see one or not. However bad the view is, if I saw it then it's on the list. If you are not confident that it was (a little bittern), then it doesn't go on the list.

Do you keep a birds seen list, or a birds I have seen well and would be able to identify myself list. It's up to you but you define what your list is.

fugl · Jun 28, 2013

Another no vote. Birding is a sport and what matters to me is the finding and seeing, not just the ID.

senatore · Jun 28, 2013

Cheers all for the replies.

In this case although the bird was in the right place I could not have ID it myself and I did not know the guy who spotted it and said it was the female.He might have been a clown or a top birder.

I have not ticked it.

Max.

James Lowther · Jun 28, 2013

good decision max

Sangahyando · Jun 28, 2013

fugl said:
Birding is a sport [...]

Well it might be a sport for some, but not for others. To me, the term sport carries many too implications (whether "good" or "bad") to be used for birding and similar activities.

senatore said:
In this case although the bird was in the right place I could not have ID it myself and I did not know the guy who spotted it and said it was the female.He might have been a clown or a top birder.

Well that's the point really. There is very little evidence to the validity of the sighting, other than the opinion of a stranger. I'd probably have put it on a separate list with a question mark or something like that.

Farnboro John · Jun 28, 2013

fugl said:
Another no vote. Birding is a sport and what matters to me is the finding and seeing, not just the ID.

Birding is a hobby. Twitching is a sport. Sports have winners and losers, hobbies have only winners.

Either way, not if you didn't see it well enough to ID it.

John

fugl · Jun 28, 2013

"Bird watching" is a hobby, "birding" (tick collecting), a sport. And tick collecting, not bird watching, is what the thread is about.

chris butterworth · Jun 28, 2013

I've always gone with " If you can identify it, you can tick it". Modified, of course. If I see a bird I can't identify, and someone else does, and their ID matches my notes then - tick (you can't be expected to ID every species ).

Chris

Larry Sweetland · Jun 28, 2013

The first time I saw a Little Bittern was at Radipole lake in the early 80's. The first time someone shouted 'There it is!' while I was present, was to claim a yellowish crash helmet appearing to skim the top of the reeds, that was actually on the head of a motorcyclist on a road at the edge of the lake. I didn't tick it.:-O

keith · Jun 28, 2013

Years ago, I went to Lundy for Ancient Murrelet. I remember sitting high up, Jenny's Cove I think, far away in the distance, shimmering in the heat haze were 2 large dots and a small dot. I was told it was 2 Razorbills with the Murrelet alongside, a well known birder was behind me describing the murrelet in detail. I thought to myself, what kind of optics was he looking through?. I was desperate to tick it off, I'd put a lot of time and money into this, a really rare bird, I didn't tick it, it was a dot!.

hotspot birding · Jun 28, 2013

For me just seeing the bird isn't enough I always challenge myself to only count those I positively ID. Kind of why I never hire guides or go on bird walks looking for lifers

Woody67 · Jun 28, 2013

I would count it as a tick.We have all experienced birding trips when we get a fleeting glimpse of a bird and sometimes not been able to ID a bird on our own. In this case you could not ID the bird on you own but if you feel confident to rely on other birders present to ID the bird go ahead and tick it.Birding is meeting other birders in the field and sharing information and helping less experienced birders. If I only got a fleeting glimpse as you did I would tick it but would strive to one day getting better views of the species.

tittletattler · Jun 28, 2013

fugl said:
"Bird watching" is a hobby, "birding" (tick collecting), a sport. And tick collecting, not bird watching, is what the thread is about.

Slightly different over this side of the pond with birding being the term for people who don't just watch birds but also do surveys, writes species accounts in County reports, writes ID articles, sits on Committees and.....twitches! A bit of everything. A birdwatcher is someone who simply watches birds without doing any of that (and long may they enjoy doing so).

Cheers,

Andy.

chris butterworth · Jun 28, 2013

tittletattler said:
Slightly different over this side of the pond with birding being the term for people who don't just watch birds but also do surveys, writes species accounts in County reports, writes ID articles, sits on Committees and.....twitches! A bit of everything. A birdwatcher is someone who simply watches birds without doing any of that (and long may they enjoy doing so).

Cheers,

Andy.

We all used to be 'bird watchers' until about the beginning of the 1980's, when 'birder' was imported from the US ( 'cos it sounded better and more 'active' ). I've gone back to being a bird watcher ..................... who does surveys, and the odd twitch, and species protection and - watches birds. Never been a 'bird spotter' though. :eek!:

Chris

George London · Jun 29, 2013

My understanding of a 'tick' is that you have seen a particular species of bird...

The guys at Moor Green Lake don't not tick the Pallas warbler because they thought it was a Yellow Browed warbler do they? If there were experienced bird watchers/spotters/ birders/ twitchers to verify? If there was a guide in an unfamiliar place who identifies a bird? If you take a photo of a bird you have no idea what it is and it is credibly identified?

If you have decent evidence that what you saw was the bird in question then whether you knew it was or not is, surely, irrelevant.

fugl · Jun 29, 2013

chris butterworth said:
We all used to be 'bird watchers' until about the beginning of the 1980's, when 'birder' was imported from the US ( 'cos it sounded better and more 'active' ).

As well as more macho, counteracting the supposed "little old lady in tennis shoes" connotation of our hobby by putting some hair on its chest. Like you, I never really warmed to the change and nowadays tend to refer to myself as a bird watcher rather than a birder.

Would you tick this sighting of a Little Bittern ? (1 Viewer)

Well-known member

Hit-and-run WUM

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

aka The Person Named Above

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'

Well-known member

Hotspot Birding

Member

Well-known member

aka The Person Named Above

Well-known member

Well-known member

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread