Monday, February 22, 2016

Species Mis-identification

Really hate it when I misidentify something.  Usually I try hard to get it right.  for instance, don't think I've ever said "there's an elephant" when in fact it was a rhinoceros. But I do know that sometimes I can get insects or birds or fish mixed up a bit.   Some of that is local labeling.  What might look like a blue bird to me might be called a "blue tit" or some such thing where I currently am.  Also, an English Robin and a USA Robin do not look alike.  So I can be given a bit of leeway, I'm thinking, if I mess it up some.

Yesterday I thought I saw 3 huge manta rays.  They were magnificent, humongous, and massive, silently gliding by us.  Today I found out that they were eagle rays.  Opps, my bad.  My apologies to the entire ray family for giving these magnificent beasts an inappropriate name.  Visibility wasn't the best and I didn't get a good look at the front of them before deciding they were manta rays.    Now I know and next time I see some wonderful critters like these, I'll try my darnedest to swim in front of them to get a good look before mis-calling them a manta rather than an eagle.

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