Sharp Shin
Stewart Belfield
A future scenario and dilemma?
It’s early June in 2024 and there has been a report of a possible Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler at Wicken Fen. It is in a remote and inaccessible area. I decide to visit the reserve and take along with me an array of new technology. After I arrive at the area where it is suspected to be, I launch my personal drone which hovers above the fen and, with its on-board camera, scans the surrounding area. The drone transmits images to my Google Glass and, after some searching, I eventually see the bird through the screen. Two things confirm the identity as Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler: comparison of a captured image with a collection of images on my Iphone; and a synchronisation of the bird’s song with a sonogram received through my Google Glass.
I submit my data to the BBRC. Though the bird was never actually seen (i.e. without the aid of digital technology) by anyone, including me, they accept the record and it goes on the British List.
Question: Can I actually claim to have ‘seen’ the bird - i.e. tick it, put it on my BUBO life list, etc?
(I leave aside the larger question of whether it matters or not whether I tick it!)
It’s early June in 2024 and there has been a report of a possible Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler at Wicken Fen. It is in a remote and inaccessible area. I decide to visit the reserve and take along with me an array of new technology. After I arrive at the area where it is suspected to be, I launch my personal drone which hovers above the fen and, with its on-board camera, scans the surrounding area. The drone transmits images to my Google Glass and, after some searching, I eventually see the bird through the screen. Two things confirm the identity as Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler: comparison of a captured image with a collection of images on my Iphone; and a synchronisation of the bird’s song with a sonogram received through my Google Glass.
I submit my data to the BBRC. Though the bird was never actually seen (i.e. without the aid of digital technology) by anyone, including me, they accept the record and it goes on the British List.
Question: Can I actually claim to have ‘seen’ the bird - i.e. tick it, put it on my BUBO life list, etc?
(I leave aside the larger question of whether it matters or not whether I tick it!)