Dusky Thrush (no not that one!)

More drivel today I'm afraid, blame this mild winter weather. Don't worry it's nowhere near in length as my last post! Oh and thanks for the responses to that one, been great to read all the honest accounts of Birding Blunders. 

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about how a 'grumpy birder' had logged on to the Bird ID page on Facebook and basically had a good moan about being asked to ID common birds. There were many phrases within his long rant like "buy a bird book" and "banging my head against a brick wall".  Here's my original post: http://stevesbirdingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/helping-others.html.

Go forward fifteen days (to 15:35 on Sunday 4th) and on the very same Facebook page a lovely lady called Rachel from Derbyshire posts three photos with a simple...

 "Just three for you today 😄 thankyou!"

Photo one shows a Starling, and would you believe it, the third photo is a good picture of a regular every day Blackbird.  Oh dear, 'Grumpy birder' would not be happy about this one bit. Rachel buy yourself a bird book and start working things out for yourself.  Unbelievable. 'Bangs head against brick wall'.

Oh yes, of course, there was also photo number two...

Photo (c) Rachel Jones

I have to be honest and say when I first saw this photo I wasn't sure if it was a wind up or not. But I told Rachel what the three species were, and she replied with two further photos of this absolute mega - a Dusky Thrush. It was no wind up.  And within a few minutes the Facebook Bird ID page went absolutely mental.

Fast forward two days and many happy twitchers and birders have seen this bird thanks to all the work put in by Rachel in sorting the access and parking arrangements. And of course because she felt comfortable enough to post this photo, with her two others of common birds, on Facebook.

So 'grumpy birder', and all others who think it's a good idea to go to places designed to help those who want help, only to have a good moan about the very people asking for help, well let this be a valuable lesson. If you take the time to encourage, who knows what will come of it one day.

Although personally I am not fussed about seeing this fantastic bird, I do have one question... Can I count it as a find tick??

Why bother...

I probably shouldn't write or send this post - but I'm going to.

First of all, a brief summary of recent events.

A few days ago news broke of a Devon first, a Dusky Thrush, present in a private garden in Brixham for about eight days. The situation and location meant the decision was taken by the locals that news could not be released nationally whilst the bird was present.  As County Recorder I was informed of the presence of this bird, but as any County Recorder would do, the wishes of the land/home owner had to be respected. A horrible situation to be in yes - but it's one of only a few down sides to being County Recorder, compared with endless up sides. 

Once the bird had departed, I was asked to join the discussion about how best to release the news. Do we wait until the BBRC report is published in 2014?  Well in my opinion, there was no reason to withhold the news any longer - the bird had gone so the reason for withholding the news had gone. Any further 'supression' would have been pointless.

With the news release, I felt there should be some pictures to go with the text. I was well aware of the discussions about the purity of the Kent Dusky Thrush earlier this year, and thought including photos would help/enhance this discussion. Not only that, it would also show everyone instantly that this was indeed a Dusky Thrush and not a weird leucistic Redwing or such like. If photos weren't released when the news went out, how long would it have been before people asked to see photos?  A few minutes? 

Ok, now I am removing my County Recorder hat. This is Steve Waite the patch birder...

 

Now I certainly think my opinion was wrong about releasing the news so soon. In fact my opinions have changed about many things in many ways over the last day or so. 

First of all, I must state I'm only talking about the absolute minority here.  Thank you to most for being understanding about this difficult situation.

1/ Do home owners have any rights?   I am a home owner - should I ever have to explain why I let certain individuals into my house? Surely it is up to me who I invite in - for whatever the reason. Should I also be expected to open my doors wide for anyone and everyone to come in?  Please, I've only been a home owner for a year, so I need to be told if I'm wrong here....

2/ Why do some birders/twitchers think they have the right to see every bird? Or think they have the right to know about every bird immediately...

3/ Why do people who do not know the full facts, think they do and speak like they do. And even more annoyingly, think they know MORE than the people that DO know the full facts. I don't know the full facts about the Dusky Thrush, but I trust the judgement of the people that do. Does that make me naive/stupid, or just a normal person?

Something I do understand entirely is how this news release would have been a right punch in the face for so many - a bird as epic as a Dusky Thrush right here in Devon! But that is no excuse for the above, or for the down right nasitness aimed at the lucky ones that did see it (although I'm sure none of them 'feel' lucky at all!). And how about the poor chap who found this crippling rarity? What on earth has he done wrong!? And I can't begin to imagine how he must be feeling. 

I'd just like to stress yet again, this isn't a moan at birders/twitchers in general. It is me feeling extremely exasperated and quite simply stunned at the behaviour of just a few.

In my ten-ish years of what I'd describe as 'being a birder' - I have never felt so low because of my hobby. So so much worst than missing the Pacific Swift that flew directly over my parked car - that I was sat in! And boy was that painful. This is on another level altogether.

This episode has made me question the whole idea of birding, my number one (two if Jess reads this!) passion in life - it's what I enjoy doing day in day out and it has always given me so much happiness. This is the first time this has happened to me, and I'm finding it so very sad. It is the reason I am up at 2am posting this when I should be asleep. All very upsetting to witness, so much nastiness created by one bird.  One blob of feathers.

Before last week I would have dreamed to have a major rarity in my garden. Not any more. In fact do I want to find a major rarity ever again? What's the point.....