Rarities you just don‘t get excited for (1 Viewer)

[Andy Lakin]

Somebody mentioned their dislike of tips. I really enjoyed the Rainham Slaty Backed Gull seeing on my second day of trying. One big annoyance was the fact that you could see it was calling like mad bu couldn't hear it due to the distance/ background noise. It fascinates me just what they eat especially when you see them eating things like the contents of the yellow hazardous human waste bags! Also I once watched a lorry dump literally tons of sliced bread and the larger gulls eating them whole, mist impressive!

 

[earlytorise]

Somehow all those „greenish“ Leaf warblers just don‘t get me excited.

I have the exact opposite preference. Coming from Hong Kong, where there are many Phylloscopus migrants/vagrants, I do sometimes pay attention to them and am excited to add one to my list.

Indeed, there are only two categories of birds that I wouldn't be excited to twitch:

1. Birds that have a significant chance of being of non-wild origin. Luckily I never bothered to go for that Paddyfield Pipit in Cornwall, even though I was living in the UK at the time.
2. Birds which I don't regard as tickable because they are too similar to other species. I posted a thread about this very problem. I could have gone and twitched a couple of Japanese Quail in Hong Kong this past autumn, but none of the pictures that were shown to me rules out Common Quail as far as I'm concerned. Although Common Quail is a rather fanciful possibility here, I don't regard that as a good enough reason to rule it out. As far as I know, the quails that were twitched this autumn were not heard calling/singing.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Gulls, Geese and Ducks.

 

[Farnboro John]

Gulls, Geese and Ducks.

A drake King Eider doesn't get you going? Come on.....

John

 

[opisska]

As for non-wild birds - that's one of the reasons I don't care so much for rare wildfowl, the uncertainty is annoying and hard to remove, regardless of "acceptance". But the Paddyfield Pipit I would happily twitch and count, it's dismissal is absurd and my enjoyment wouldn't have been dictated by a committee decision. On the other, the IDability of the Pipit would have been a completely different question, I still think all pipits are exactly the same

 

[bonxie birder]

Anything that is going to require a DNA test to clinch the i.d. Also.birds that require interpreting wing formulae tail feathers or similar, that's out of my league but obviously many people enjoy the challenge . I think an apt term for these people may be ornithosadists😀

In my retirement I have become very aware of the flaws in my birding ability compared with others - and I think I’m quite good. Some species are very distinct, some require an enjoyable challenge while others are nye on impossible to separate, for me at least. That’s where I find my passion waning. I totally agree that only ticking something because of its poo is ridiculous.
I did go to see the scoter as I live near by, but it was pushing my conscience to its limits ticking a black dot bobbing around half a mile away.
I would love to see ”A Realistic Checklist of the Birds of the World” based on sights (can be identified through a pair of 8x42), sounds (some of the identical looking cisticolas have highly distinctive songs) and not based on DNA. I guess the 1970‘s Peters checklist will be close. Aaah happy days.

 

[Andy Lakin]

I have the exact opposite preference. Coming from Hong Kong, where there are many Phylloscopus migrants/vagrants, I do sometimes pay attention to them and am excited to add one to my list.

Indeed, there are only two categories of birds that I wouldn't be excited to twitch:

1. Birds that have a significant chance of being of non-wild origin. Luckily I never bothered to go for that Paddyfield Pipit in Cornwall, even though I was living in the UK at the time.
2. Birds which I don't regard as tickable because they are too similar to other species. I posted a thread about this very problem. I could have gone and twitched a couple of Japanese Quail in Hong Kong this past autumn, but none of the pictures that were shown to me rules out Common Quail as far as I'm concerned. Although Common Quail is a rather fanciful possibility here, I don't regard that as a good enough reason to rule it out. As far as I know, the quails that were twitched this autumn were not heard calling/singing.

On the subject of birds probably being escapes can anybody remember what the bitd was Essex/ London (Harlow?) area about 10 years ago possibly a few years earlier that was in a small group of houses in the countryside in someone's back garden and on the garage. Iirc it was a smallish passerine with a lot of red on it or mostly red I'm assuming it was a North American species but could be wrong. There was a lot of interest in the bird with a lot of people going to see it, but it was so obvious it was an escape in hindsight and people soon lost interest. Sorry for the vague details but I've erased the details from my memory as it was such a waste of petrol money and a 3 hour journey each way

On another note I'm not a big fan of ticking birds that are only really idable because somebody has gotten some fantastic photos that have clinched the I.d. I'm not knocking this approach at all but personally it feels a lot more satisfying to nail birds just using optics. On the other hand tho quality photos allow people to scrutinise things like bill to head ratios etc etc with far more accuracy and have obviously eased the process of getting records accepted on many occasions.

 

[Ratal]

A drake King Eider doesn't get you going? Come on.....

John

Travelled hundreds of miles for a Red Breasted Goose, ditto King Eider, and of thousand plus miles for Steller Eider when the chance of a UK bird became close to zero.

Magnificent birds to have as a lifer tick.

A drake King Eider doesn't get you going? Come on.....

John

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I think a lot of people will not bother with the current Stejneger"s Scoter in Lothian. It's gor so much going against it, despite it being a first. Travel time, viewing distance, weather, costs involved etc. Having said that I'm hoping to get up over Christmas if it hangs around! Also a large percentage of people nowadays can't be arsed to.put the effort in looking. A lot of these rare Scoter are a real pain and only show sporadically so you need to put some serious effort in often just for a few seconds view.

If someone's up for buying me a scope that it would be identifiable in, driving me up there, and providing me with a hot water bottle when we get there...I might be just about up for it 😆🤔

 

[Xenospiza]

On the subject of birds probably being escapes can anybody remember what the bitd was Essex/ London (Harlow?) area about 10 years ago possibly a few years earlier that was in a small group of houses in the countryside in someone's back garden and on the garage. Iirc it was a smallish passerine with a lot of red on it or mostly red I'm assuming it was a North American species but could be wrong.

You may mean the not-so-smallish Pine Grosbeak at Harlow, which was more than 15 years ago.

 

[Dyrlege]

Oh, come on. A bird is a bird is a bird, worth seeing or hearing anytime. Just enjoy, don't compete.

 

[bonxie birder]

As for non-wild birds - that's one of the reasons I don't care so much for rare wildfowl, the uncertainty is annoying and hard to remove, regardless of "acceptance". But the Paddyfield Pipit I would happily twitch and count, it's dismissal is absurd and my enjoyment wouldn't have been dictated by a committee decision. On the other, the IDability of the Pipit would have been a completely different question, I still think all pipits are exactly the same

I have a soft spot for Paddyfield Pipits. I spent a hour in Siem Reap with a trainee bird guide disentangling at least two dozen PPs from a trapper’s net………and they still looked like most other pipits I’ve seen else.

 

[Andy Lakin]

You may mean the not-so-smallish Pine Grosbeak at Harlow, which was more than 15 years ago.

Thanks Im sure thats it.