Do You List "Heard Only" Birds? (1 Viewer)

paj · May 18, 2006

crispycreme said:
I know it's up to me and my conscience and my listing styles, so this is not a "should I" question, but more of a "would you" question. We recently had three diagnostic and unmistakable heard-only birds, Whip-Poor-Will, ("whip poor will"), Greater Pewee ("hosay maria"), and Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (with its rubber ducky squeaky wheeze noise). All three are pretty good birds for any birder, and are not birds that are guaranteed to be seen by sight in the future (due to the limited ranges of the pewee and the flycatcher, and the nocturnal habits of the nightjar). Now, for certain birds, like Black Rail, one would almost have to settle for heard-only due to the extreme secretive nature of the bird, or else resign oneself to never having it on one's list. So I guess a decision has to be made at some point what one will include on one's list. I guess I've arrived at that decision! :eek!:

What are your thoughts?

When doing bird surveys you record all birds seen or heard along your transect route/point count or whatever, because they are there!....so I don't see the problem listing birds only heard...they are still there and you have detected them. If it's good enough for the Ornitholgical bodies it should be good enough for a list.

paj

jedku · May 18, 2006

paj said:
When doing bird surveys you record all birds seen or heard along your transect route/point count or whatever, because they are there!....
paj

Let's not have a debate between field ornithologists doing surveys and sport listers. They are obviously both doing different things with different sets of rules.
The important point here is that the rules for sport listers now include allowing "heard" birds on competitive lists and to get them to start enjoying that practice and feeling it is positive proof of an ID.

paj · May 18, 2006

jedku said:
Let's not have a debate between field ornithologists doing surveys and sport listers. They are obviously both doing different things with different sets of rules.
The important point here is that the rules for sport listers now include allowing "heard" birds on competitive lists and to get them to start enjoying that practice and feeling it is positive proof of an ID.

I had no intention of starting a debate between the two....the point I was making is that the bird is there and you've detected it, so it's valid.

paj

brianfm · May 18, 2006

Some one made a very simple comment to me a week or two ago and asked 'if I lost my sight would I stop birding?' The answer I definately believe, would be no I would not. So it made me stop and think. Everything has been said really, earlier in the thread but I have recently started to add heard only birds to my year list. I reckon there will be very few on the list at the end of the year that I havn't seen. For perhaps illogical reasons, or perhaps simply because I would be unlikely to know in some cases what I was listening to, I would not add a heard only bird to my life list. I have heard Bitterns and Corn Crake for example and they are definately not on there. I set my own rules I suppose, although in general when I hear the term rule used for birding it turns me off. Makes it sound like 'work' rather than a hobby I love.

Cillana · May 18, 2006

Terry O'Nolley said:
I don't add birds to my list unless I see them, but I will tic a difficult bird when the song clinches the ID.

Same here. I combine visual cues (behavior included) with song and habitat to figure out hard IDs. I don't feel satisfied until I've seen the bird. Especially since I tend only to remember bird songs after I've seen the bird singing. I'm also not satisfied if someone points out a bird to me and I don't see long enough or well enough to see any features that would tell me I was definately looking at the right bird. But then that's just my life list and year list. When writing down a list of birds for a trip or day I do count heard-only's but make a notation that they weren't seen.

If that Epidonax (sp?) won't sing for you here's a tip, play back a song of which ever one you think it might be by habitat and see if it attacks you. :t: That happened to one of the people in my group back in April.

jada dulo · May 19, 2006

On a year list I'll add them on 'heard only' as long as I've put in effort to see the bird first (this year I've got 3 species as heard only - Tawny & Little Owl & Cetti's), I'm certain I'll see the first 2 before the year ends & the latter one...well it really isn't worth driving to Dorset to just 'secure' a tick!!
Normally my year list ends with just one 'heard only' tick....Quail!!

I certainly dont tick lifers on heard only...them I have to see!!!

Do You List "Heard Only" Birds? (1 Viewer)

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