 Mike Stiles
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Stringing
by Mike Stiles
I
recently came across a birding
term I had never heard of before — stringing. A stringer is one who
finds and reports many "good"
birds, often while birding alone,
has no photos (or very bad
photos), is wrong most of the
time, and — pun intended — sends
other birders on a wild goose
chase. Every birding community has
one.
Birding is often a solitary sport,
and can be very competitive for
those who keep lists. Birders must
rely
on the honesty of their cohorts,
and a reputation for accuracy in
reporting is a valuable commodity.
Many top birders readily admit
that they are not 100% sure of a
sighting and will report, for
example,
Selasphorus sp instead of trying
to differentiate between the
difficult Allen's and Rufous
Hummingbirds.
Stringers may not admit to that.
In the picture below you can
see the subtle differences one
must
look for in juvenile males of the
two species. Juvenile females are
said to be impossible to
distinguish
even in the hand. A tough task
indeed.
I don't think that stringers
purposely lie, at least I don't
want to believe that, but they're
just not careful
enough in their identification, or
too quick to report their findings
before verifying their sighting.
The
problem arises when other birders
chase a presumed rare bird and
either never refind it, or find a
similar common bird. We chasers
can be fooled time and time again
because of the odd chance that the
stringer could actually be correct
this time.
A stringer though can quickly
tarnish their reputation, which
once lost is not easily regained.
Years ago
a local stringer was famous far
and wide for reporting ultra-rare
birds, which were found to be
incorrect
almost every single time. The
reports would often be accompanied
by photographs of such poor
quality
that I once accused him of
parodying bird ID photos. He
wasn't trying to be malicious, and
he wasn't a
bad birder, but his enthusiasm
often got in the way of better
judgment.
The funny thing is, there is just
no benefit to being a stringer.
There is certainly no money in it.
Sure, a
large list can gain a birder some
notoriety for a while, until
everyone realizes they are just
stringing us all
along.
Of course, no one expects
perfection, we all make mistakes,
and it is preferable to report a
suspected
rare bird than let one get away
unseen. Just remember what local
top birder Brad Schram always
says…"if you hear hoof beats,
think horses, not zebras."
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