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Date Posted: 11:41:01 07/20/01 Fri
Author: Greg Links
Author Host/IP: cblmdm205-162-223-29.buckeye-express.com / 205.162.223.29
Subject: On martens and squirrels....

It is great to see beginners visiting this board and expressing their obvious enthusiasm for nature and its critters, avian or otherwise. Rain Man and others should take note not to discourage these folks with good intentions. Enthusiasm is one of the great qualities in beginning naturalists, and every attempt should be made to encourage it!

That said, beginners should take note to do a little research before putting themselves out on a limb, as was the case with the latest "marten vs. mink vs. weasel vs. red squirrel great debate". A simple browsing through any mammal book would have easily eliminated Pine marten, and most likely revealed the true culprit. As beginners, it is great to be enthusiastic, but very important to be careful as well, if identifying critters is what you want to do. Too many times, it seems like beginners do not do their homework (which very often is something so simple as looking into a field guide, and cross-referencing it with a local guide) and end up "calling" something that is not the MOST LIKELY candidate. Everyone wants to see the unusual, but it is vital to rule out the usual BEFORE moving on to more exotic possibilities.

In this particular case, it was clear that based on the original description, that Red squirrel was indeed the most likely animal that was encountered that day. Nothing was ever mentioned in the message to suggest otherwise. It seems now the observer is confident that they were NOT red squirrels, and it would be interesting to hear why Red squirrel was eliminated from consideration based on field marks.

Sorry if I sound preachy, but I felt the need to weigh in on this. Take it for what it's worth.


Greg

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