BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ovenbird43" data-source="post: 1271710" data-attributes="member: 64478">Thanks for all the replies, as I expected there are a variety of opinions.  I only recently considered changing my listing strategy, when I heard Western Screech-Owl in Oregon late one morning.  I searched for it for a few minutes, but I knew it would be hopeless to find in the forest without calling it in.  Ethics and disturbance issues aside, I can't whistle for crap anyway and the jack on my mp3 player broke, so that wasn't even an option.  But I was thrilled to hear one (actually 2 were calling!), possibly more so than if I had only seen it... seeing an owl is always exciting, but hearing it allowed to me to experience what makes this species different from its eastern counterpart, rather than just saying "oh I saw a screech-owl in Oregon, therefore it has to be a Western".I heard the Boreal Chickadee during a mid-winter trip to northern Michigan several years ago, and at the time didn't even consider adding it to my life list.  To me its raspy "chicka-dee-dee" call is just as distinctive as its plumage (if not more so, lighting can really alter plumage color), but I just don't feel as good about adding it to my life list as I do for the owl.  So I had been considering adding the owl but not the chickadee.  Even if I did add the chickadee, I think I would still feel the same desire to go out and see it for the first time, so to me adding it to my list would be pointless.</blockquote>

Verification