Quiet time in the British birding world, so I thought I'd ask a question: Has anybody ever mistaken a bird not just for another species but for something completely lifeless? So far I have managed to tick an M&S carrier bag (green woodpecker) a submerged tyre in a reedbed (gadwall) a hang-glider (white-backed vulture) and a half-eaten pizza (vermillion flycatcher). Not quite up to the standard of the visitor to Minsmere who id'd an Oystercatcher as a puffin carrying a carrot, I admit, but I'm working on it. Anyone else want to 'fess up?
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Is it a bird...is it a paper bag? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter willsy
- Start date
John B (not the sloop)
Don't blame me I didn't vote for 'em
A molehill makes an excellent Stone Curlew in my experience....
I insisted once that a whimbrel was a cow-pat. It wasn´t moving, crouched down in "Look, I´m a cow-pat" mode.
sorceresselite
Well-known member
OK 10 continuous shots of a fence post with a pile of rope on top, looked like a buzzard,until I put a bigger lens on!!
Jane Turner
Well-known member
My crowning glory was a bloke in beige and turquoise blue hat on a bike with squeaky brakes, moving fast down a forest track that I didn't know was there......
I announced him as a Jay
I announced him as a Jay
David Smith
Warrington Lancs
A plastic bag makes a very good Heron!-both my wife and I were certain until we 'crept up' on it behind a wall in order to photograph it (good job no one was watching)
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Once (many years ago!!) pronounced to a hide full of birdwatchers - look the little egret is over there. Then the guy sat down the hide says where is it from the Mute Swan. Oops!!! I then remained silent till i left the hide.
pepsi can in a beck on my local patch was a kingfisher and a kids kite stuck in a tree on a windy day had my looking for a woodpecker i could hear drumming for quite a while
i dont even have age to blame im only 22 !
not a bird but i do know someone who stalked some deer in a woodland in scotland for ages to get some photos doing his best stealth tactics when he got fairly close the deer ran up to him for some fuss it was in a fenced off field at a petting farm haha i dont let him forget it
i dont even have age to blame im only 22 !
not a bird but i do know someone who stalked some deer in a woodland in scotland for ages to get some photos doing his best stealth tactics when he got fairly close the deer ran up to him for some fuss it was in a fenced off field at a petting farm haha i dont let him forget it
Larry Lade
Moderator
I once saw what I thought was a kid's kite apparently caught in the forked branches of a tree along side the Missouri River here in Saint Joseph. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a Double-crested Cormorant which had apparently slipped from its perch in the tree, catching in head in the fork of the tree and had in fact hung itself. Its wings were spread out giving the impression of kid's kite dangling from the branches in the tree
Marmot
Well-known member
My main one in our garden is a dried castor oil plant leaf which I thought was a Blackbird sunbathing. And my out and about one was at Leighton Moss and I thought I had found a Bittern [luckily I did not announce it out to all] I told Ian where I thought it was in the reeds and he told me it was a tree stump.
dantheman
Bah humbug
On the macabre hanging front... was camping on Dartmoor with my brother about 15 years ago when we came across a dead male sheep which had somehow slipped and hung itself in a small tree next on a hillside ... lots of other dead sheep and bodyparts in the area. Hence the obvious joke about all the ramparts in the area.... (as I write this suddenly wondering... but did it slip?....beast of dartmoor or..?? :eek!: ).
More on topic.. dead branches at the tops of trees which weren't various raptors, and a piece of wood in a pool in Cornwall which had all the appearance of a Baillon's Crake (all in private though fortunately).
pstraughan
Well-known member
While on holiday in the Kruger National Park earlier this year, we saw what we thought was probably a Warthog asleep under a tree. We parked the car as close as we dared. After a good 10 minutes of observation, we realised that it was an interestingly shaped log!
Oh, and I once mistook a patch of moss on a tree trunk for a Greenfinch!
Pat
Oh, and I once mistook a patch of moss on a tree trunk for a Greenfinch!
Pat
Moraybirdlover
Well-known member
My OH came in from the garden, uploaded his photo of a Blue tit to see a blue peg on a bamboo cane, that I had put there as a plant support!!!
Vectis Birder
Itchy feet
I have had Common Kingfishers magically turn into crisp packets and vice versa.
Mike Montier
Well-known member
Yes, lots of times but most memorable was a Short-eared owl that turned out to be a cow pat. There were six of us convinced it was a SEO until I approached slowly and eventually jumped up and down on it much to the amusement of the remaining guys watching through their ´scopes!
Oh yeah, that reminds me, I once stalked a plastic bag that I thought was a sick Whooper Swan. Finally picked it up to show me mates who were following my progress through their scopes.
Fozzybear
Ich bin ein Vogelbeobachter
So many plastic passerines and bottle birds I can't recount them all! The only Short-eared Owl I ever saw was very far away and I was suffering from a lactose intolerance reaction so was not really with it but it just looked like a tuft of grass to me. The others all could tell it was one and I took a photo but it still looks like a tuft of grass even in the photo... I showed it to the others and they said, yes, that's it... bloomin' "grass owl" more like! 
No that long ago my wife and I spent about 20 minutes scoping what we initially thought was a Common Buzzrd sitting out on a salt marsh. We then decided it was showing a lot of white on the head and could well be an Osprey.
As I say, after about 20 minutes, we concluded it was merely an old piece of tree stump!
cheers
Gordon
As I say, after about 20 minutes, we concluded it was merely an old piece of tree stump!
cheers
Gordon
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