lizardking's Journal

This is an abridged explanation of my growing inactivity, accompanied by some heron bones I found. It makes sense together, kind of.
The longer version is here:
https://avianosteology.blogspot.com/2023/02/some-heron-bones-and-inactivity-extended.html

This is going to be a bit convoluted and could be two separate posts but I feel it appropriate to keep as one.

I have been increasingly slow with IDs, and I will probably be far more inactive in the coming weeks. I am going to try and catch up on everything one day, but it will take a lot of time. I decided I wanted to put some explanation out there for why. There are my two main reasons for increasing inactivity:

1. Have growing need to use time and brain power for more immediately useful life skills
2. Becoming more aware of and frustrated by my own limits regarding bird bone IDing

Point one isn't relevant to iNat but I think needed mentioning, and point 2 ties into the heron pelvises and mandible.

I have encountered this before with an ibis skeleton I found. More recently, with a woodpecker wing. My initial reaction in the field upon finding bird bones is and I think always will be excitement and wonder. But after that, unless it is part of the intersection of the few families and skeletal elements I know like the back of my hand, it's utter confusion.

...
IDing on iNat for me is often considerably time consuming. It can take me half an hour of reviewing references for comparison, not including the time spent explaining my ID if I find one and making graphics. Sometimes an ID can take weeks of background research.

I have over 2,000 bird bone IDs with many hours tied into them. And so when I am in the field, utterly lost to even guess an order of the bird bone I found, there is a frustration. Worse when I return and can't puzzle out through my comparative resources. I understand more specific identification will more or less always depend on comparison, but when I can't even guess order in the field, it gets discouraging.

...
I'm kind of a limited learner. I use illustrations, but they often leave me confused, missing something. I prefer photographs, they feel very effective on the world of iNat or any other little internet corner I might be around on to help with bird bones. But when faced with a physical bone, I realize how limited photographs are too. Especially because I have terrible spacial awareness. Precise measurements are sometimes wholly necessary for species differentiation. But a lot of times I need them when IDing for others on iNat just because I am a terrible judge of size without numbers. I can often be found holding my hand and some bones to my computer screen, trying to parse out what I'm seeing.
...

All of this is to say, I am no natural at this. My knowledge is hard gained and incomplete. I often feel like I am trying to grasp a new language that is always slightly out of reach. Bird bone resources are hard to come by. Natural history museums have a track record of only keeping bird skins, not the bones. The MBTA means North American birds are harder to get references for, and I can't learn off of most physical bones outside of the field, which is unfortunately the best way I learn. There is not much interest in birder and ornithology circles for avian osteology, and so knowledge within community about bones is comparatively less than among mammal or herp circles.

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At this point, I tend to not respond to a lot of my @'s. And I feel bad about that. But I keep them all in links I email to myself. I am deeply grateful for the group of people who @ me a lot, even though I feel less than faithful and diligent. But you are seen, and I am doing background research, and I am thankful for you guys to keep me motivated to push myself to learn and grow more and keep time carved out for iNat even when I work on other stuff. I am quiet and naturally have a withdrawn presence on and off the internet, but I really appreciate all of you. I am too shy to @ anyone specifically, but if you think you might be included in this, you are.
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One day I'm going to try and get through all of them, but that will take a lot of outward inactivity as I get spend a lot of time doing my own behind the scenes research.

...

So, how is this massive rant relevant to the heron bones? They were another significant straw of frustration. I want to share my extra pictures of them, but have almost nothing constructive to say about them. Because I just don't know. I have a pdf about differentiating heron pelvises I will review, likely during my planned dormancy. Then I might be able to add something better about them.