Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!purdue!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!dragon From: dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Bird Misidentifications I have known Message-ID: <17726@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: 5 Dec 89 21:56:22 GMT References: <17670@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU Reply-To: dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Lines: 42 >................. One day, she got a call from a woman who >said she had an eagle in her yard. Judy (my friend) asked the woman to >describe the bird. The woman gave the description, and had Judy completely >stumped. Finally, in exasperation, Judy decided to drive the 5 miles or >so to the woman's house to see the alleged eagle. The bird turned out to >be a chicken! (True story, I swear!) > >-Greg I believe it! I have taken many calls from many people who had wounded birds in their possession. Some are particularly notable: A "two-foot-tall orange hawk" which turned out to be a kestrel. A "baby golden/bald eagle" which turned out to be a redtail (common). A "fish hawk" that was really a great blue heron (they eat fish, right?) A "peregrine falcon" that was really a pigeon (pigeon hawk?) A "hawk with a 5-foot-wingspan" that was really a grouse. A "woodpecker" that was really a goshawk (boy, was THAT a surprise!) And my favorite, a "baby great horned owl that was orphaned and injured, although it was 45 minutes before it was finally cornered and caught with a net". This was really an adult saw-whet owl with no injury whatsoever. How they had thought a feisty, flying bird was injured is beyond me. If anyone has any more of these, feel free to e-mail them to me. Stories such as these are fun to collect! (and the heron mentioned above nearly put out the eye of the man who tried to catch it. NEVER handle a heron without a face shield!) -- Sam Conway dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu Chemistry Dept., Dartmouth College Vermont Raptor Center, VINS Save the Humans!