{"id":10291,"date":"2016-05-20T01:57:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T08:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/?p=10291"},"modified":"2015-08-20T11:25:11","modified_gmt":"2015-08-20T18:25:11","slug":"never-assume-the-obvious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/20\/never-assume-the-obvious\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Never Assume the Obvious&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Bonaparte's Gulls\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rickwright\/14990013534\/in\/photolist-cDzSMb-cDzSTy-cDzSJC-cDzSQ5-cDzSXf-cB3gzQ-cB3gCL-cB3gFN-cBaNdG-csbiZy-csbiWf-csbjeE-csbjcU-csbjzN-csbjiQ-aMoQ8n-aMoP6M-aMoNNg-aMoNvD-aMoPm8-oQBJMd-aMtnoK-aMoFJa-aMoFw2-aMoEog-91KbNW-91G5SD-91G5HM-91KbGN-91KbVq-91G68T-91KbAq-91Kcgh-5q9jbP-5qdCQ9-5q9jhr-57TQUn-57TR2g\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm4.staticflickr.com\/3943\/14990013534_1113f8c32f_z.jpg\" alt=\"Bonaparte's Gulls\" width=\"640\" height=\"387\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>A\u00a0<\/em>real\u00a0<em>Bonaparte&#8217;s gull<\/em><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>One hundred years ago today, Ludlow Griscom was out shooting birds for his graduate alma mater, Cornell University. As Roger Tory Peterson told the story,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Firing into a flock of Bonaparte&#8217;s Gulls, he shot a bird which he skinned and labeled as an immature Bonaparte&#8217;s. Then taking aim at one of the passing Common Terns, he dropped it into the water, retrieved it, and subsequently labeled it an adult Common Tern.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You can guess what followed when<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>both specimens were re-examined. The supposed Bonaparte&#8217;s was actually a <a href=\"http:\/\/arctos.database.museum\/guid\/CUMV:Bird:2524\">Little Gull<\/a>, the first record for upstate New York; the tern was an <a href=\"http:\/\/arctos.database.museum\/guid\/CUMV:Bird:2574\">Arctic Tern<\/a>&#8230;. May 20, 1916, had been a red-letter day, but Ludlow did not appreciate it at the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Never assume the obvious,&#8221; the resolutely unchastened Griscom told his disciples. But Peterson, telling this tale long after Griscom&#8217;s death, did just that. It would seem to be obvious that Griscom made up\u00a0his own skins. Not this time, though.<\/p>\n<p>Look what I found:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Screenshot-2015-08-20-14.20.44.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10292\" src=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Screenshot-2015-08-20-14.20.44.png\" alt=\"Screenshot 2015-08-20 14.20.44\" width=\"603\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Screenshot-2015-08-20-14.20.44.png 603w, http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Screenshot-2015-08-20-14.20.44-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 603px) 100vw, 603px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I guess we know what America&#8217;s greatest bird painter was doing, too, one hundred years ago today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A\u00a0real\u00a0Bonaparte&#8217;s gull One hundred years ago today, Ludlow Griscom was out shooting birds for his graduate alma mater, Cornell University. As Roger Tory Peterson told the story, Firing into a flock of Bonaparte&#8217;s Gulls, he shot a bird which he skinned and labeled as an immature Bonaparte&#8217;s. Then taking aim at one of the passing &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/20\/never-assume-the-obvious\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8220;Never Assume the Obvious&#8221;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[365,553,555,554,290,552,600,197],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10291"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10291"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10294,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10291\/revisions\/10294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}