Birding bloopers #6

I have been featuring some birding bloopers – or badly misidentified birds – over recent days. This one is from the contributors to the Birding-Aus forum and comes from Eddie in Voss, Norway.

My best blooper (there have been many, but this is the best one) happened many years ago. I was half way up a mountain overlooking a lake when I saw something pink moving in the reeds.

I wasn’t birding at the time so my binoculars were in my car, but it must have been a Flamingo. I dashed back to my car and headed down towards the lake. On getting there the “bird” was still present, but it wasn’t a bird. It was a pink plastic bag that had caught on a broken reed.

From the mountain it looked like a long legged bird with a pink body. The movement was caused by the bag and the reed swaying in the wind.

I don’t know what was more pink – the plastic bag or my face.

Good one, Eddie – and thanks for permission to use your embarrassing moment.
You can check Eddie’s website Birdwatching in Norway by clicking here.

To read more birding bloopers click here.

 

2 Responses to “Birding bloopers #6”

  1. Ruth says:

    I honestly stopped a birding bus to look closer at a branch in a tree that looked like a cormorant, but it was where a cormorant often nested.

    And Thursday’s birding at http://www.cabdrollery.blogspot.com is a bluebird from a fellow blogger. Very nice pic.

  2. Trevor says:

    How embarrassing to have a whole BUS LOAD of birders observe your error first hand. I guess you looked twice or even more before announcing any more special sightings.

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