We had so many neat stories in the ‘Trash Talk’ topic about garbage that was initially mistaken for some kind of specimen or specimen proof, that I thought this common scenario deserved its own topic.
I’ve actually been considering starting this for a while, but was reminded the other day when I came across a couple of recent ‘reminders’ of the topic:
When I collected road-killed birds for museum specimens (with the necessary permits!) I got really good at telling a dead bird from other trash at 55 mph. Except. I kept turning around and going back for what turned out to be gloves or banana peels. (OK, the banana peels were formerly living, but they certainly weren’t my targets.)
Banana peels are a classic blunder for roadcruising herpers. We used to prank friends/other researchers by throwing banana peels on the road, and, after just a day of baking in the sun, they would routinely fool lots of people into slowing/stopping…ah the good old days…
My mom was telling me about a beautiful birdsong she’d been hearing outside. When I was visiting, she had me come outside because the bird was back and she wanted me to hear it.
The song was actually a contractor working on a house across the alley; he’d been prepping it for sale for a few weeks. To be fair, he only whistled the same four notes, same pattern, at the same pitch (I have perfect pitch) over and over, so his whistling was rather bird-like.
We had a good laugh when I figured out what it was.
