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So, how do you write it on the list? (1 Viewer)

O

Otto McDiesel

Well-known member
I just was wondering, how exactly do you decide when to write it down: when somebody shows a bird to you and they tell you what it is? When you hear it? When you see it? Do you need to positively ID it yourself, or a guide on a $5000 trip does it for you?
By the way, i am the Devil's advocate here, i am an avid birder, but i have stopped counting for the list a long time ago, at 1650.
 
I guess it is your list, and you can do whatever you want with it. If a guide gets you onto a bird, and you see it, why not write it down?
 
I bird solo pver 99% of the time, and I list a bird if I can identify it without a doubt by sight or sound. For my life list I am a little more strict about sound identifications, but for other lists (trip, day, yard) a familiar call will do.
 
Robert Ellis For my life list I am a little more strict about sound identifications said:
Define a little more strict, either you recognise the call and don't need to see the bird or you don't recognise it so have to find the bird to id it.
If I can id a bird from its call then whatever the list, I have got a tick. If I cannot id from the call then no tick, even if at a later time I recognise the call from reference source ie. CD or Computer program
Click to expand...
 
I consider an ID to be when i identify the bird myself (sight or sound), whether on the spot, or later at home. I did not "write them down" when someone pointed birds to me but i was not able to do the ID myself. I guess it's just a fun game...
 
Call me old fashioned but I need to id a bird myself. If a bird is pointed out to me then out comes the old note book and I sketch and try to get down as many field marks as I can to ensure that when consulting a field guide later I have enough info to make a positive id.

Anything else for me is just not cricket. For instance, after enjoying the latest Pallid Swift at Spurn I enquired -after a fruitless search- if the Beacon Ponds Lapland Bunting had been sighted that day. I was led by a group of well kitted out, helpful birders back to a to female Reed Bunt I had observed during my search.When I pointed out the error one of the group joked to his companion "I knew we should have brought the book"!!

Their expectations determined their id. They were nevertheless good sports.
Although I am (usually) willing to defer to greater wisdom I will only add a species to my list according to my own judgement.

Chris
ps If you are reading this Meggy then I in no way mean to criticise the addition of said species to your list simply because some kind soul pointed to an overhead speck and id'd it Calcarius lapponicus!! ;) B :)
 
I will list birds if pointed out and if I get good enough views to confirm the ID. Let's face it, many birds I would not have seen in the first place if I had not been with a very good guide, especially on trips away.
 
You can have it all ways. I have created a spreadsheet for my local birding club of local birds that allows you to not only list whether you have seen the bird but a whole lotta of other things as well.

Here are the columns:
Lifelist
50 mile radius list (aka 80 km radius)
To/from work list
Home list
On Your Own (Did you see it without somebody else pointing it to you?)
Heard song?
Breeding Male
Non-breeding or fall male
Male
Female
Young
Flight
Phase
Other Behavior

I have shaded out the plumages that can not be distingiushed and lightly shaded the plumages that are identical.

The value of this lifelist is it not only lists what you have seen, it tells you what you know about each species of bird.

In addition, I have each column totaled up for confirmed and unconfirmed species (enter a U for unconfirmed) and of course have the grand total of species.
 
Hanno said:
I guess it is your list, and you can do whatever you want with it. If a guide gets you onto a bird, and you see it, why not write it down?
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree. I was just thinking, too, that if someone did not "list" birds pointed out to them by someone else, that would include birds shown to them by guides on organised ornithological holidays. I suppose that seeing new birds is one of the reasons for going on such trips!
 
I will count birds that someone else has indicated to me, but only if I see it well enough to be sure of the field marks myself. If I don't see it well or am not sure of the ID, I will not count it. That seems to be a good middle ground.
 
Otto McDiesel said:
By the way, i am the Devil's advocate here, i am an avid birder, but i have stopped counting for the list a long time ago, at 16.50.
Click to expand...
Was that just before tea time?
P.S. I'm all for devil's advocates!
 
dendroica_john said:
I will count birds that someone else has indicated to me, but only if I see it well enough to be sure of the field marks myself. If I don't see it well or am not sure of the ID, I will not count it. That seems to be a good middle ground.
Click to expand...
that's more or less what i do, or did, i don't keep a list, but still enjoy a "lifer"
 
Mars4096 said:
You can have it all ways. I have created a spreadsheet for my local birding club of local birds that allows you to not only list whether you have seen the bird but a whole lotta of other things as well.

Here are the columns:
Lifelist
50 mile radius list (aka 80 km radius)
To/from work list
Home list
On Your Own (Did you see it without somebody else pointing it to you?)
Heard song?
Breeding Male
Non-breeding or fall male
Male
Female
Young
Flight
Phase
Other Behavior

I have shaded out the plumages that can not be distingiushed and lightly shaded the plumages that are identical.

The value of this lifelist is it not only lists what you have seen, it tells you what you know about each species of bird.

In addition, I have each column totaled up for confirmed and unconfirmed species (enter a U for unconfirmed) and of course have the grand total of species.
Click to expand...

Now, that is a serious list!
 
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