On Thu, Jun 12, 2003 at 06:16:40PM +1000, Andrew Stafford wrote:
> Never mind Peter ... I'm pretty sure in my formative birding years
> (early 80s) I tentatively identified a Spotted Turtledove as a Wompoo
> Pigeon in the outer eastern 'burbs of Melbourne
Without the excuse of inexperience, I identified a Monarch Butterfly as a
Turkey Vulture. Now you'd think the size difference would prevent this,
but in flight head-on, in silhouette through a telescope there are
limited similarities between a TV 0.5km away and a monarch 20-30m away.
Of course, as its gets closer and the orange coloration starts to show
the magnitude of your mistake becomes apparent. At this stage it would
be better if you hadn't previously announced the incoming TV to the
rest of the hawk-watching group and they were all trying to find it,
leaving you with no choice but to admit the mistake. After the laughter
stopped one of the group consoled me with an account of misidentifying
a White-tailed Deer for a Great Horned Owl.
Andrew Taylor
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