You will have to be towards the more birder end of things amongst readers of this blog to spot why I raised my eyebrows when seeing this sign at a local Wildlife Trust site.
Should we call it a mistake or a prediction?
If you don’t understand have a look here under taxonomy.
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Ah an American Green-winged Teal, I have seen one of these in each of the last 6 years either locally at Nosterfield or Staveley NRs or a little further afield at RSPB Saltholme. It may well be the same bird each time so perhaps if one arrives at your site it will become a regular Mark.
Green winged teal?
US hegemony alive and well in the East Midlands.
Where i live the information board has an image of a pratincole. Haven’t had the nerve to tell the owners it isn’t a Swallow.
Obviously the artist commisioned had little knowledge of birds. Rather like some hides on bird reserves that are designed without input from birdwatchers who will probably be the primary users.
Was puzzled at first, read the link, still puzzled, then looked at the sign again and realised I should have looked at the picture (of Teal) rather than just read the words!
The Chiffchaff is Phylloscopus (collybita) fulvescens easily distinguished by it’s particularly well marked superciliousness.
A mural of wildlife in Swansea includes a monarch butterfly.
I have seen an American Green-winged Teal but I didn’t really find it any more exciting than the bog-standard Anas crecca (a lovely duck) it accompanied.
Years ago in the Watch magazine, published for young members of the Wildlife Trust, a similar mistake was made. As here, the illustration was of a green winged teal rather than a common teal. (errare humanum est)
Well spotted Mark!
Ha! A dislike! How pathetic…
Not the first time this has been mentioned, though one did turn up a few years ago at Irthlingborough. I hope it didn’t spoil your visit.
Chris – not at all, had a nice walk
Information boards are notoriously misleading for some inane reason. On another Northants reserve the sign shows all the birds that nest in the woodland, including Lapwing!
I’ve been visiting another local reserve for 20+ years and have never seen the large flocks of Teal, Green-winged or Eurasian that the information board purports to claim.
It would be so easy to get it right so why do they so often get it wrong?
There is a board in the Algarve that promises “Capped Herons, Aigrettes, Water Hens, King-fishers, Bee-eaters, Hoopoes, Nightingales, Titmice, Jays, Blue-Hummingbirds, Greenfinches, among others”. I suspect the blame lies, at least in part, with Google Translate.