Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Breaking the Duck

To break one's duck...I've always liked that British-ism, an idiom meaning someone has done something for the first time. It's awkward; it's nonsensical, and it's also kind of scandalous to use in a conversation about birding. But, as far as the British are concerned, every time we birders see a new bird we're 'breaking that duck'.
Within recording a lifer bird there is another phenomenon, a type of synchronicity many birders have experienced, especially if they see a new bird in the first few years of rookie birding. The phenomenon is that once a bird is finally seen, all the sudden one will see it fairly frequently, or at least unusually frequently given how, up until a point, you had never seen it before. This could simply be because the birder wasn't aware of the bird before or capable of recognizing it, or because they only recently started seeking out the sort of habitats that would support such a bird. Sometimes there isn't much of an explanation.

Last week I saw my first Greater White-fronted Goose, an uncommon migrant, at an old birding haunt in west Phoenix. I birded the heck out of that place but never saw a White-fronted. Finally everything lined up and I got my first, not from lack of effort or knowledge but just from lack of circumstance and luck. While spending the weekend in Iowa, my cousin Mike and I then found another Greater White-fronted Goose in west Davenport, another rare find for the time and place. While scanning hundreds of Canada Geese out on a frozen lake, Mike heard a different vocalization and was able to pick our the conspicuous impostor.


So, I broke my duck last week, and now there's a watershed of White-fronted Geese. I predict I will now see them everywhere always forever.

15 comments:

  1. That's how it works, it just happened to me. After finally getting my state nemesis(Slaty-backed Gull) in January, I saw the same individual across the bay in a different county last week. We are bound to be together through all of time and space.

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    1. Slaty-backed Gull...that's a pretty good partner to be bound to throughout time and space. I worry that having Greater White-fronted Goose will get old after a while.

      Maybe, all this time, it was the Gull that was searching for you...

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  2. Nice work Laurence!!! You hit on something! I was wondering if it was just me and now I know....it's not:) I finally see gnatcatchers or vireos and I begin seeing them everywhere! It's frustrating because I'm working right now on my thrashers. But the Crissal keeps avoiding me and yet everyone is seeing them. Nice to know the quote that hits the mark on this phenomenon:)

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    1. Thanks Chris. I've also noticed the seeming surplus of Crissal Thrasher reports lately, but I also haven't seen much of them this year. We'll have to go searching out west of Phoenix some day soon.

      Saturday?

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    2. That would be fun. We are hosting another birder friend this weekend from Prescott to help her find some birds here in Tucson.....plus I still need to find that zebra/nuthatch mutant warbler:) The one I really want to see is the Rusty Blackbird. It's my Plain-capped Starthroat this year:)

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  3. The phenomenon is very real to me. I could name a couple dozen nemesis birds that became regular once I broke that duck. Long-eared Owl stands out to me as the biggest example. Saw one after much effort, and then eight more in three other locations within two weeks.

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    1. I dipped on that Owl in Iowa. I dipped hard and deep, like a chewing tobacco-addicted Alabama native.

      There should be an official and individual word or phrase for this phenomenon though. Birders have invented so much other jargon.
      Something like, "Ever since I saw my first Spoon-billed Sandpiper in it's been a real Bleezleguard. Now I see them all over."

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  4. The Greater White-fronted Goose is a good catch! We had one show up in NJ the same time a Pink-footed Goose did. Now we've had Pink-footed Geese appearing in 3 or 4 different counties within the state and one in PA. (2-3 different birds definitely based on timing of sightings). So here, this rare bird influx is contagious, not that we mind!

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    1. You are spoiled : )

      I've thought of capturing a Greater-white fronted and giving it some pink slippers--don't know how else we'll get a Pink-footed here in AZ. With Northern Lapwings this winter too, you're getting a regular Eurasian flavor over there in NJ! Who says that strip of land ain't classy and cultured!?

      Thanks for stopping by worthy birder.

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  5. Nice! Can't say I can take credit for hearing the Greater White-Fronted Goose, but it was a great find either way. Nice photo, too. Mine were blurrrrry.

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    1. Yes, in many ways it was the best find of the weekend. I know what you mean with the photos. We stopped fifteen feet from that Horned Lark and yet I didn't get any good shots. Sometimes it just doesn't work, no matter what.

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    2. Yeah, my Horned Lark photos didn't turn out, either. I think my best photo was of a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

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    3. Ah : ::sigh:: :

      We must do it again.

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  6. Hey Laurence. Glad you got your Greater White-fronted Goose. You probably read about my first sighting on my Duck, Duck, Goose post on Bird Lady Blog. I added 3 lifer geese that day!

    ~ Sherrie (Bird Lady)

    http://www.birdladyblog.blogspot.com

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