In a post months ago, I mentioned David Sibley's writing on "
group hysteria" in a birding context:
This problem can result in a sort of "group hysteria" when large numbers of birders look at the same bird. The suggestion by one person that the bird is a certain species forms an expectation for everyone else, who then looks only for field marks to confirm the "expected" identification. In one very well documented case in California, the first state record of the Sky Lark (a Eurasian species) was misidentified for days, and by hundreds of people, as the state's first Smith's Longspur.
A reader from the UK pointed out two more examples:
One of the best known examples in the UK occurred at Landguard Point, Suffolk in June 1988. A Paddyfield Warbler (another 'mega' here, but is more frequent now) was trapped and ringed and, as it turned out, not seen after release. However, it was 'relocated' and over 1000 birders 'ticked' it over several days until it was pointed out that it was a scruffy Chiffchaff (a common warbler here). Paddyfield Warbler isn't the most distinctive of birds, but it is in a different genus to Chiffchaff. A good example of what you refer to as 'group think'.
One recent example over here (this week) involving experienced birders being confused by calls was of a Little Owl making an unusual call. They thought the bird could be a Scops Owl (another UK mega). This is covered in this Birdforum thread. (The finders have, to their credit, admitted their mistake).
Posts
6 comments:
Groupthink works the other way to, causing people to collectively disbelieve something that turns out later to have been true.
I saw that Skylark myself, after it had been determined what it really was. It did turn out to be a megararity, the original obervers were correct in ruling out the common alternatives. And it was a race of Common (now Eurasian) Skylark that was not illustrated in North American field guides. It was only Robbins and Peterson then. Paddyfield Warbler vs. Chiffchaff is a distinction challenging under the best of field circumstances. Two large, boldly-patterned woodpeckers is a different thing.
Audio evidence is an issue. I remember a Eastern (back in those long-forgotten days of the early 70s still called Rufous-sided) Towhee in Atlanta that was famous for singing a flawless Carolina Wren song. I was opposed to the ABA rule change that allowed the counting of heard-only birds on ABA area life lists. I put in my two cents for allowing this only in the case of select sensitive species (such as buff-collared nightjar and boreal owl) where harrasment to obtain a sight record was dangerous for the species.
"Two large, boldly-patterned woodpeckers is a different thing."
I completely agree, and I think when sufficient fieldmarks were seen well, the Cornell team correctly separated PIWO from IBWO in the Cache River area.
Again, I think the probability of error skyrockets when you attempt to separate the two species based on a fleeting glimpse in which most of the relevant fieldmarks are not seen.
Actually, distinguishing Paddyfield Warbler and Chiffchaff is not something any European birder would consider hard.
Even in scruffy plumage?
Indeed that is a straightforward distinction if one is the sort of birder who approaches warblers properly, separating the marsh warblers from the leaf warblers first then determining species. But large numbers of UK birders still throw up their hands in frustration with silent warblers. I dare say most of them could hardly be relied upon to accurately distinguish amongst virtually any warbler species outside of their nesting grounds.
As a UK birder I think the previous post is not true. Most experienced birders here would identify most warblers fairly easily, whether on the breeding grounds or not. However, there are some species that most find hard (however experienced) e.g. the Blyth's Reed, Reed and Marsh complex. I don't think the Landguard incident could happen again (to an experienced birder Paddyfield really is very different to a Chiffchaff in any plumage), due to better field guides and 'digiscoping' - meaning photos are posted on websites like Surfbirds. However, mistakes are still frequent over here (usually single observers, but not always). One notable one last year was a Great Tit with most of its body feathers missing, identified as an Indigo Bunting. No, I don't know how that was done either.
Post a Comment