ML644171852

Detalles de la observación

A million photos, dozens of observers. An occasion like this bird raises an interesting question about the philosophy of counting birds for eBird or for one's personal lists: I have had long discussions with eBird reviewers in my area who feel strongly that if you can't be sure you would have identified the bird on your own, you probably shouldn't enter it into the system based on someone else's identification. I can say quite confidently that based on the photos I took and the observations I made in the field, I would never be able to identify this bird beyond the genus level. I understand that other, better photos have conclusively shown identifying features to narrow it down to species, and based on the overwhelming unlikelihood that another Culculus sp. is also in exactly the same area on following days, I and certainly most of the other people there onsite today feel comfortable drafting off that species identification. Anyway, I'm glad I got up early and drove out for dawn, because I understand that half an hour after I left, Mr. Cuckoo disappeared for the rest of the day. I would have ended up pretty grumpy.