A friend at the Hungry House was asking me about my column on the black-throated blue warbler building in one of my bluebird boxes, and I told him, “I’m sorry but a reader educated me that it was a tree swallow, and I will be writing a column to correct it.” He said, “Aw, just forget it Dalton, and nobody will ever know the difference.”
That’s just not my style. When I make a mistake, I have found I feel better when I admit it and correct it as far as I can.
Correcting my mistake about the black-throated blue warbler gives me a chance to make a powerful point to bird-watchers: Have at least one good reference book on birds. The best one I have found is Roger Tory Peterson’s “A Field Guide to the Birds.”
Look at the pictures of the black-throated blue warbler and the tree swallow in the Peterson guide, and you can see where I erred. They look like the same birds, but when you really look closer, you see a few small differences. It is those small differences that can make the difference between an accurate identification and an error. That’s why we all need such a field guide.
One reason I erred was my own excitement when I saw such a gorgeous bird making its home in my box. I quickly saw a picture of a black-throated blue warbler and incorrectly identified it.