7 replies to this topic

[fisherman1313]

Have any of you ever seen a bird that you could not ID and then weeks or months later suddenly realize what the bird was? Would you count it if you did?

I was at Calaveras Big Trees State Park last June with an Audubon group. After eveyone else left I did some birding on my own. I was walking up a hill near some chaparal when I saw a bird fly up from the ground. It flew over the brush and disappeared. A few minutes later I flushed another one a few yards away. They had short tails with white tips on the outer remiges and reddish primaries and the flight reminded me of a small owl. I spent several days trying to figure out the ID with no luck. Just a few minutes ago I was looking at the 6th edition of the NatGeo guide, marvelling at the detail of the Caprimulgid portraits when I suddenly realized that Common Poorwill was a very good fit for what I saw last year. I looked a few pics online and COPO is an exact match.

I counted it. Would you?

[GreatHorn]

I definitely would. A lifelist is a list of birds that you have seen and identified... but they never said you had to identify it on the spot.

[fisherman1313]

I know we make our own rules for our life lists, I was just curious if anybody else would count a bird seen over a year previous and IDed solely from memory. It actually brings my list back up to a previous total because I deleted the Pacific Loon I thouhgt I saw last year but am still unsure of.

[creeker]

I would totally count that. That's the same behavior and habitat I see them in all the time.

[guy_incognito]

Yeah, I'd count it when you have that many distinctive characteristics to work off.

I used to only count birds that I have a photo of, but recently changed to those with a unique enough call, or those seen but not photographed (Lesser Nighthawk was one seen briefly, but obvious enough for me to count it). I had some obvious call IDs on birds that I may never get a photo of, and felt that they really should be on my list (Mexican Whip-poor-will, Common Poorwill, Montezuma Quail, Whiskered Screech-Owl, and Flammulated Owl). The Flammulated was one that we didn't realize what it was until the next morning when we had a chance to listen to different calls, and it became quite obvious.

[fisherman1313]

I have a few birds on my list that were not IDed until a day or three after I saw them but this is the first one I have IDed a year after a saw it. I've only been keeping a list since my first Audubon field trip, April 13, 2010 so I haven't had much opportunity to see a bird and ID it years later. Of course I counted all the birds I saw in CA before I started birding but now there are only two that I saw before (that I remember) that I have not seen since I started birding. Back in the 90's I had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak in my backyard in San Jose, CA and a Tricolored Heron at New Hogan Reservoir (about 40 miles east of Stockton, CA, way back before I knew what a big deal that was). They are highlighted on my list and I sure would like to get rid of the highlights. I've chased Rose-breasted Grosbeak locally a couple of times but they never stick around long enough for me to find them and I don't think I'll ever get another local Tricolored Heron.

[guy_incognito]

Yeah, those are a couple of tough birds to get in CA. Not sure I've heard of a local Tricolored Heron anytime recently. There have been a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks this year. One of the few was actually in my yard this year! That was one of the most exciting findings I've ever had.

[spookyjimjams]

I have ID'd a bird through a letter that I wrote years before I started birding. The bird was so striking that although I was not a birder, I wrote very detail descriptions of it and was able to precisely ID it as an Indian Bustard (I was in the back country of Pakistan). I wish I had done this with all of the birds I saw there, it was definitely the biggest but not the only unique bird I saw.