Worst misidentification (1 Viewer)

[Dave Hall]

Went for the Pine Bunting at Daganham and my mate Dave (who in his defence had drunk too much the night before and not consulted a book before leaving) turned to me in front of quite a crowd and loudly said "Is it the yellow one?" as it fed with a flock of Yellowhammer's :eek!:
Safe to say next time he turned round to speak to me I was 50yds further down the crowd.

John[/QUOTE]

I was very very drunk the night before got in around 2 and was on the road by 4 B Lesson here is always look in a guide before you go

 

[steve west]

Most recently, this for Scops Owl, though the identification was easily resolved once we actually saw the animal making the call.

I think that's a fairly common blunder in the Med area , Stuart. In fact some CDs of bird calls and songs put midwife toad next to Scop's Owl for comparison. Happened to a colleague of mine - he was leading a group of Americans in the Sierra de Guara and firstly was taken aback at his good luck, a Scop's Owl calling in broad daylight! After 10 minutes or so of triangulation they found that the Scop's Owl was calling from the middle of a tiny pond!

Fellow members of the UEA bird club went to Suffolk to look for the then resident White Stork and spent much too long staring at a distant pile of (chicken?) manure through their telescopes!

My own mistakes? Too many to recall, but of minor significance, I hope. Nobody's prefect.

Steve
http://www.BirdingInSpain.com

 

[KnockerNorton]

Not a bird, but when my brother moved into his newbuild, the newly moved-in neighbour came round all excited to say they had a kangaroo in the garden. It was a hare. Incredible, thinking about it, that your average Briton is now more familiar with kangaroos than hares, to the point where they don't know what a hare looks like. Or maybe this lady was especially dim...

 

[Mole1]

Not a bird, but when my brother moved into his newbuild, the newly moved-in neighbour came round all excited to say they had a kangaroo in the garden. It was a hare. Incredible, thinking about it, that your average Briton is now more familiar with kangaroos than hares, to the point where they don't know what a hare looks like. Or maybe this lady was especially dim...

Sounds like the latter! Good story

 

[Kat]

When I was very, very young, I used to call canada geese, badgers! Glad to say have improved since then. Once called a chaffinch a jay though.

 

[knocker7800]

Not a bird, but when my brother moved into his newbuild, the newly moved-in neighbour came round all excited to say they had a kangaroo in the garden. It was a hare. Incredible, thinking about it, that your average Briton is now more familiar with kangaroos than hares, to the point where they don't know what a hare looks like. Or maybe this lady was especially dim...

ive startled a hare that ran out in front of me whilst driving home on a country lane at dusk, it reared up and danced on its back legs and i thought for a split second that i'd nearly hit a wallaby. i didn't realise how big they are.
mark.

 

[Egret]

Two for the price of one:

I called "white raptor"; it was a glider.
Portland Bill; group of us on Bristol Ornithological Club trip are gazing at a Little Owl in a wall (I do mean "in a wall"); the bird moves and turns into a rabbit.

Andy

 

[davercox]

the bird moves and turns into a rabbit

and a rabbit once in a Cornwall field took off and turned into a Buzzard.

 

[Birdspotter]

Its always a laugh to read other peoples cock ups and I always say you have to have a laugh at yourself at times before you can laugh at others, so here goes!

A few years back in Texas whilst on the boardwalk at Boy Scout Wood, High Island I was watching the spring migrants flooding through the high trees at "The Cathedral" area in particular and was calling them out as they went through, with masses of Warblers all around.

Anyway as I was calling out such goodies as Worm-eating and Golden Winged Warblers to my close by mates I seemed to have attracted quite a crowd in my vicinity as it was a weekend and a particuarly busy day punter wise in the wood, perhaps 20 or so had gathered around me all raising their bins as I called out the species, soon afterwards I saw a Black-throated Green Warbler come through, the commonest warbler present and blurted out Black-throated Blue by mistake!!!

Immediatly everyone rushed over for this really good Texas tick, only for a sheepish me to tell them I had it wrong, I shut my mouth after that:-O

Others have been
"it's a Shrike!!
Is it?
F**K it is, it's a Great Grey" as I saw the white on the wing
S**t it's a Chaffinch"

and whilst on North Uist one year

"That white bag look's like a Snowy Owl!!
It is a bag!!"

 

[Mark Grantham]

Way back when, Gib Point Bird Obs used to have a string string detailing all the worst howlers at the site. The best that spring to mind were...

Montagu's Harrier that was in fact a Hercules transport plane
Bee-eater that was in fact a Budgie
Little Egret (when they were rare) that was in fact a carrier bag

and worst of all, the reverse string of

Ring-necked Parakeet that was in fact a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Having dissed the report and only half-heartedly searched for the bird, we only found the true identity of the latter when the farmer sent us a photo of the bird! Gutted!

 

[Steve Waite]

Several autumns ago I remember a couple of messages that came over my mates pager, I think it was RBA. First one read something like this:

'Outer Hebs, Bee-eater,'.

About an hour later another message came over that read:

'Outer Hebs, earlier Bee-eater report was erroneous, it is in fact a Pink-footed Goose'.

Anyone like to admit that one?? And explain how???

 

[durham giant]

ooh look at that beautiful male nightingale calling of there... look at that red on him.
I replied in my head with thats a CHAFFINCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DaveN]

Several autumns ago I remember a couple of messages that came over my mates pager, I think it was RBA. First one read something like this:

'Outer Hebs, Bee-eater,'.

About an hour later another message came over that read:

'Outer Hebs, earlier Bee-eater report was erroneous, it is in fact a Pink-footed Goose'.

Anyone like to admit that one?? And explain how???

The mind boggles :eek!: That's one of the worst on this thread to date.

 

[durham giant]

look at that magnificent frigate bird/black headed gull

 

[durham giant]

that crested coot is amazing( looking at a moorhen....)
i'm no-one to talk....
Spotted crake= water rail
aquatic warbler= sedge warbler

 

[Edward]

Several autumns ago I remember a couple of messages that came over my mates pager, I think it was RBA. First one read something like this:

'Outer Hebs, Bee-eater,'.

About an hour later another message came over that read:

'Outer Hebs, earlier Bee-eater report was erroneous, it is in fact a Pink-footed Goose'.

Anyone like to admit that one?? And explain how???

Surely mis-ID'd on its call overhead rather than an actual sighting? - wink-wink for prrp prrp!


E

 

[KnockerNorton]

Surely mis-ID'd on its call overhead rather than an actual sighting? - wink-wink for prrp prrp!


E

yes, let's be charitable! If we're talking about call mis-i.d's though, I could be here all day...

 

[KnockerNorton]

Montagu's Harrier that was in fact a Hercules transport plane

Reminded me of one of mine, a reverse cock-up. Was at Grand Canyon, peering over into the yawning silence of the abyss, and a huge shadow passes over my head. "That plane's bloody low", thinks I, "and quiet". I look up, Californian Condor passing at 10m overhead. Incredible thing was, it dipped over the rim into the canyon and looked like a housefly. Helps to have a handle on perspective, when a massive bird is in a massive space.

 

[teamsaint]

my sister once pointed at a sheep and said "oh look a cow"

 

[BobBRITTON]

snowy hare

I climbed half-way up a mountain in southern scotland in knee-deep snow to try and confirm a snowy owl that was looking at me. When I got within a hundred metres a white mountain hare ran off.