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Hi All,
I feel I need to make this posting to clear up a falsehood that has been being perpetrated for some time. For quite a while now Blake Maybank has been creating false forwards of postings that appear on Nature NS. Not all of his forwards are false of course but more than one have been.
I have explained to Blake in the past, that when he alters the content of one’s email, then the email is no longer a forward.
Of course he is free to make a posting of his own on any bird seen by other birders or to even forward their post, but as soon as content is altered, without indication that information was removed from an email, than he is in a very real sense, misrepresenting what the person was saying in their email.
His alterations also can, and have changed, the intent and mood of emails. We all know that is not hard, by removing information, to turn a friendly email into something much less colder. Or to make an informative email appear less accurate. We have all struggled over the years on Nature NS, to try to not have our emails misunderstood, so when another alters what someone else has typed in a posting it makes it all that much more difficult to express ourselves accurately.
While alteration of content does not happen on Nature NS, postings are taken by Blake Maybank from Nature NS and altered elsewhere on sites where birders from all over North American see them. When this is done it not only hurts the birder locally but across the continent and frankly changes how birders from other places view Nova Scotian birders.
In addition to removing information from emails, Blake Maybank also sometimes slips in additional information. In this particular instance his posting downgraded the Red-necked Stint to a possible Red-necked Stint. He did this by slipping the word “possible” in front of Red-necked Stint in the title of the posting.
Once again he is free to make his own posting stating that he believes it to be a only a possible Red-necked Stint but when he claims to forward an posting with an altered title, such as in this case, he actually changes the way the observer or observers were perceived to view the bird in question.
If someone sends you an email and says it is possible that I saw a Red-necked Stint or makes the title of the email “Possible Red-necked Stint” it certainly makes them seem to be much less confident of their identification.
This does the birding community as a whole a disservice as when a bird is only listed as a possible, less people go to look for the bird. There are those of course that want to check out such birds anyway but such a posting certainly discourages some.
This brings me to the main purpose of this posting.
I just wanted to let my fellow birders out there to know that we are quite certain that the bird we saw was indeed a Red-necked Stint. Could of we made a mistake? Sure. However I believe we made a correct identification, and I encourage people not to miss out on an opportunity to see such an interesting bird. Through our observations I believe we have eliminated any closely related species such as Little Stint. (If so desired I can make a posting detailing/highlighting several reasons for this decision.) I believe we also safely eliminated all lookalike species such as White-rumped Sandpiper, and a redder than normal Semipalmated Sandpiper.
I invite any inquires and I hope to obtain a photograph of the Red-necked Stint to aid in its confirmation as a Nova Scotia record.
Now some might say that in Blake’s forward he was simply trying to indicate that the sighting has not yet been made a confirmed record for the province. However it should be noted that a “possible record” and a “possible sighting” are a far cry from each other and should be so indicated. It also does not explain away his other types of changes. Which brings me to the second purpose of this email.
The second purpose of this email is to not only to inform birders of the false forwards that have been generated. (And sadly this is not the first time. In addition to the types of omissions and additions mentioned above, in the past in these so called forwards, Blake Maybank has even gone so far to alter the way I sign my name to my emails.)
As I mentioned above I have spoken to Blake Maybank about these alterations in the past but like usual with Blake I was just ignored. So I ask here, if there are some other birders in the province that have Blake’s ear that maybe they can ask him to please stop doing such a disservice to himself and all of us on Nature NS.
- All the Best in Birding, Clarence
--- On Fri, 9/12/08, Clarence Stevens <birder_ca@yahoo.com> wrote:
> From: Clarence Stevens <birder_ca@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [NatureNS] Red-necked Stint
> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
> Received: Friday, September 12, 2008, 2:15 AM
> Hi All, After almost 30 years of sorting through peeps in
> hopes of finding a stint, my efforts have finally paid off.
> Or as Don MacNeill might put it, after a very long STINT of
> birding and many RED NECKS I am finally SHORE I have gotten
> a PEEP at one. That’s the good news.
>
> The bad news is that is was not a breeding plumage adult,
> and as Sibley states on page 188 “Only breeding adults are
> readily identified, identification of other plumages
> requires careful study.”
>
> So, I will include a brief description of what we saw below
> and people can decide for themselves if they wish to pursue
> the bird.
>
> With that said, I can think of two advantages of going
> after this sandpiper.
>
> 1. it was very friendly, allowing a good long look and
> close approach to within 20 feet/naked eye viewing range.
>
> 2. It was almost within spitting distance of a very easy
> to identify adult non-breeding Curlew Sandpiper.
>
> The Curlew Sandpiper was feeding on the sand bar at the
> bridge on the Dyke Road in Grand Desert, and was spooked by
> a Northern Harrier and flew out the channel towards barrier
> beach and the fenced off DND site.
>
> This DND site can be easily entered by scrambling over a
> few boulders at the left hand end of the fence and walking
> along the shoreline. It was less than a 100 meters from
> these boulders that we encountered the stint.
>
> It was with a flock of about 20 Least Sandpipers, 1
> Semipalmated Sandpiper, about a dozen Semipalmated Plovers
> and a couple of Sanderlings. On the way out onto the beach
> we may have walked right by the stint as we skirted this
> group, so not to put them up. On the way back to the
> vehicle, the same group, blended in and it was not until
> heads popped up and a few began to shuffle about, that we
> noticed them.
>
> At that point, even to the naked eye, the rufus colored
> stint stood out from the rest.
>
> Above, the rufus coloration was strongest on its scapulars
> but there was also rufus on the mantle. Causing it to
> superficially resemble a Western Sandpiper. However the
> rest of the bird was all wrong for Western.
>
> Size wise it was a larger than the Least Sandpipers but
> clearly not larger than the Semipalmated Sandpiper.
>
> Its bill was noticeably thinner that the Semipalmated and
> very straight, lacking any droop at the tip.
>
> Its cap was dark with some rufus.
>
> A fainter buffy wash came down over the breast from its
> back but the sides of its face were grayer. Inside the
> buffy area there were faint diffused streaks but the rest of
> the underparts were unmarked.
>
> It’s had a well marked, white supercilium, white throat,
> and a belly that was whiter than white, -“Tide White”
> making the white bellies on the Least Sandpipers look off
> white or dirty in comparison.
>
> The legs & feet were black and the toes appeared to
> lack any webbing even at very close inspection, however
> webbing can be hard to see.
>
> One of the most impressive things about this bird was its
> behavior when it started to run around and feed. It was
> amazing how fast it moved, it dashed about so quickly its
> legs were almost a blur.
>
> Dad and I saw the bird on Thursday near high tide around
> 5pm. Both Mike King and I plan to try for some pics and will
> make another post if we can relocate the bird. For those
> that may not know the Dyke Road in Grand Desert, it is
> quite close to the Shore Road in West Chezzettcook. The dyke
> road runs along a seaward section of the West Chezzettcook
> Marsh while the Shore Road runs along a more landward
> portion of the West Chezzettcook Marsh. This area can be
> reached via Hwy 107 Exit 20 or via the coastal route of Hwy
> 207. The 107 is faster from most locals but the birding is
> way better along the 207 so the choice is yours. - cheers,
> Clarence
>
>
>
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