Since I couldn't bird this morning due to a very low, leaking tire (again) on my car. Instead I did an overdue (4 found birds missing) update to my Website, which prompted a reconciliation of my 3 sources Website, ebird & Spreadsheet. I found I still had a Seaside Sparrow on my Spreadsheet -- which I had claimed and then withdrawn (thanks to my friend Sue Gager Palmer's sharp eyes) and I had updated the website list and ebird, but apparently not the spreadsheet (which maintains the count).
So instead for 204 birds, I have 203 and instead of the Harlequin Duck being my 200th bird, it is the Northern Pintail.
You may think -- so what? But being a birder is about identifying and counting only accurate sightings -- being open the challenges and erring on the side of conservatism. Sue's corrections (then and now) make me a better birder, so being a birder also means have the humility to admit when you are wrong. Birds are small, fast and have a lot of variability (like humans), mistakes are inevitable even after years of birding. I continue to be grateful to have been welcomed into this community and for what I have learned from them.
Zen birding lesson for the day: Who can't use a little more humility?
Not a Seaside Sparrow (a Song Sparrow)
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