Dogged Nature

In his book blink: the power of thinking without thinking, Malcom Gladwell has half a page explaining the power of the glance in birdwatching:

The ornithologist David Sibley says that in Cape May, New Jersey, he once spotted a bird in flight from two hundred yards away and knew, instantly, that it was a ruff, a rare sandpiper. He had never seen a ruff in flight before; nor was the moment long enough for him to make a careful identification. But he was able to capture what birdwatchers call the bird's "giss" - its essence - and that was enough. "Most of bird identification is based on a sort of subjective impression - the way a bird moves and little instantaneous appearances at different angles and sequences of different appearances, and as it turns its head and as it flies and as it turns around, you see sequences of different shapes and angles," Sibley says. "All that combines to create a unique impression of a bird that can't really be taken apart and described in words. When it comes down to being in the field and looking at a bird, you don't take the time to analyze it and say it shows this, this, and this; therefore it must be this species. It's more natural and instinctive. After a lot of practice, you look at the bird, and it triggers little switches in your brain. It looks right. You know what it is at a glance."

The description couldn't have been more accuarate! Very often, I find that I am able to identify the species of a bird in the few short seconds it took to dash across my field of vision. Or a species of lizard as it disappears into the foliage. Or sometimes, but more rarely, a butterfly, as it flutters about and refuses to rest. But if someone shows me a static picture of a bird (say, some sandpiper, tailorbird or bulbul, for some of the species look really similar!) like they do on the forums, I might not be able to give the answer straight away. Just let me see how it flies, how it behaves on branch, or best still, combine those with its call, and I'll be in a much better position to confirm its ID. And I too, like Sibley, have recognised birds in the field when I haven't come across them before. Like how I knew that the green bird we saw on the grass at Chesthunt was a woodpecker (don't we only associate them with tree trunks?). Or those waders we were stalking along the coasts of Guernsey were Dunlins. The glance is one of the mysteries of birding and is what gives it its fun.

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