Errata: Volume 1

You might think that I would hate issuing a correction.  You might think that it would be disturbing, or upsetting, or whatever.  You might think it would make me feel bad.

You couldn't be more wrong. 

Well, in this case.  I can't make promises about the future.

But here's the deal.  In my last post, "The Bad, The Good, and the Ugly", I included a couple of photos of a cool little vireo that we saw early in the day at Crow Valley.  I don't have a lot of experience with vireos - they are not every day birds for me - and I IDed the bird as a Warbling Vireo.  What did I know?  I was just parroting what someone near me had said.  And not doing my own deeper dive to truly look at the thing.

Red-eyed Vireo
Crow Valley Campground, CO
9/7/13

But isn't that really the point?  To really look at the bird?

And, lucky for me, my classmate Mary actually read this blog and very kindly sent me a message suggesting that the bird in question is not a Warbling Vireo but rather a Red-eyed Vireo.  The beauty of her message was that she identified the field marks that distinguish the bird:  the darkness of the crown, the more definitive supercilium (that's birdspeak for "eyebrow"), the eyestripe, a fairly significant bill, and the overall yellowish color.  I checked my field guides and saw the error of my ways, but these are subtle differences, harder for my untrained eye to confirm than for these folks with way more experience and expertise than I have;  I wanted one more layer of confirmation before I flip-flopped the ID.  So I sent the photos off to my mentor, Tina, who has forgotten more about birds than I'll ever know.  She not only seconded Mary's call, but added a few extra details, pointing out that the blackish eyeline goes all the way to the bill.  And that the blackness of that line is what makes the white supercilium pop.  And agreeing that Warbling Vireos are not usually that yellow.

Red-eyed Vireo
Crow Valley Campground, CO
9/7/13

As our mentor Chuck likes to say, "it's a teaching moment".

And just like that, I'm a little more educated.  And I'm a little more apt to look at the next vireo I encounter a little more closely.  And I realize that I have not just my super assigned mentor, but a class full of potential coaches and teachers.

Being wrong never ever felt so good.