I use a social media site called Nextdoor that is designed to connect people who are in the same geographic area. There are many people on there who give away many useful items for free. While I’m on there, I almost always see one or two posts where someone has posted a photo of a plant/animal/fungus wanting to know what it is. Inevitably, the same misidentifications happen over and over.
- Any spider with any red on, or predominantly black, it is identified as a black widow
- Any spider that is mostly brown is identified as a brown recluse, which do not occur here in California.
- Any blurry or dark photo of a cat is identified as a mountain lion or a bobcat, even if the flea collar is clearly visible.
- Any snake is a rattlesnake.
- Any frog is identified both as a bullfrog and as red-legged frog.
- Any bluish bird is identified as a blue jay, which do not occur within a thousand miles of here.
- Any lizard is a newt or a skink
- I could go on.
The misidentifiers are often quite confident and eager to argue. So I have two questions for you.
- What common misidentifications do you see from non-naturalists in your area?
- What motivates people to state and defend identifications when they really have zero idea?
I ask this second question because I think having insight into why these people do this would help me be less annoyed with them. Thank you!