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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ovenbird43" data-source="post: 1273827" data-attributes="member: 64478">The more I talk to other birders, the more I realize I'm somewhat in the minority (at least in my area) in relying so much on my ears to locate and identify birds.  I've always been a more visual learner, and I learn songs and calls more slowly than I do form and plumage.  However, over time I can learn them just as well, and maybe I have years of playing piano and playing in band as a kid to thank for being able to confidently differentiate many different bird sounds, once learned.Since I place as much importance on bird sounds as I do for sightings, at some point it began to seem really arbitrary for me to leave "heard-only" birds off my personal lists.  And of course, when doing surveys for research, I usually only hear birds and rarely see them.  I also find birding more relaxed and enjoyable if I don't differentiate "seen" and "heard" on most of my lists; it keeps me from feeling compeled to chase down every single bird I hear so that I get them on my trip list, year list, state list, whatever.I realize this is all a matter of personal choice, but I find it very interesting to see what other people do and what their reasons are.</blockquote>