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6 comments:
I love to read World Twitch
It’s tone is always on high pitch
The thought of suffering fools
Is not allowed in the rules
He is a Viking of the highest order
In debate he gives no quarter
You have a degree in ornithology?
You might as well have studied mythology
And heaven help you if you see an Ivory Bill
His wrath will be worse than a dentist drill
But this is what I really fear
If he is ever made to hear
Of Mary Scott’s psychic
He will go seismic!
Super Anon (aka "Extremely Anonymous") would have been proud and honored to see himself quoted by "WorldTwitch." Sadly, however, I must report that Super Anon was last seen in a Brinkley, AR neighborhood, being escorted from a van into a house by a group of men wearing helmet cams and ghillie suits. I fear the worst.....
From the article
Apparently Science only considered the quantity of dubious evidence cumulated and "enhanced" in secret by the "rediscoverers" rather than the total absence of any proof that would persuade a competent state rare bird records committee or qualified peer reviewers.
Uh ... or ANY rational skeptical person who understands the difference between a good picture and a frame from a blurry pixelated garbage videotape.
Is there a single high profile field birder who has publicly supported CLO's ID of the bird in the video? Ornithologists who are midland at field identification don't count.
How do we rank a "high-profile field birder" versus a "ornithologist midland at field identification".
The David Sibleys, Jon Dunns and Kenn Kaufmans of the skeptics are among the most well-known birders, and are certainly very skilled, but I wouldn't consider them to be the top birders in the country. Sibley himself has admitted to having zero experience with tropical Campephilus woodpeckers. These are birding celebrities, personalities, and yes, excellent birders...but not the best.
As a skeptic, I'm actually disappointed that more highly-skilled birders who are known by the advanced birding community, (but not by the general public who would only recognize Sibley, Kaufman, etc.) have not come forth to side with us.
As far as World-twitch, I continously find myself driven to laughter by the posts found there, as it is constantly suggested that "twitchers" are far better birders, and more reliable than ornithologists.
As pleasing as it is to see yet another source tear Cornell a new one, I actually fear that sites like World-twitch do more harm than good for skeptics, as they bring a sense of ridiculousness and nonsensical vitriol to our community, that will obviously be looked down upon by believers, but probably by serious and respected birders/ornithologists as well.
As unskilled as some of the Cornell people are, I know some of the twitchers and World-twitch types wouldn't stand a chance when it comes to matching identification skills/prowess with the likes of Mark Robbins, Alvaro Jaramillo, Bret Whitney and other university-affiliated ornithologists.
I would include Van Remsen in there too, and I would still consider him a far better birder and "identifier" than any twitcher/lister, but we all unfortunately know of his straying over to the dark side.
Twitchers always seem to be very skilled at identifying mega-rarities or debating their identification, but always after someone else has discovered them...and yes, many times even by unexperienced birders or "dudes" as World-twitch refers to them.
If it comes down to "dudes" going out into the field and finding rare birds, even if they're not sure what exactly they are, while the twitchers are sitting at home checking the listserves and RBAs 24/7, and then rushing out to follow up on the already-found rarities...I feel I have to side with the "dudes".
Give me a birder who can't tell an Ivory-bill from a bumblebee, but who can photograph something that seems strange to them, and I'd still be quite happy.
But give me a twitcher with a world list of 7500, who sits in the recliner all day, and waits for news of the latest mega-rarity before rushing out the door to capture blurry, Cornell-quality video and audio, and I won't be very pleased.
--anon
Yeah, but you have to hand it to World Twitch, they have been skeptical for a while. And they don't waffle!!
I don't think it has to do with whether you are an ornithologist, birder, bird watcher,dude, stringer, or twitcher. It has more to do with your "feel" for reality.
What is most amazing about this IBWO fiasco is the exposing of the voodoo scientists from the true scientists.
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