Where I live people don’t have names for snakes, it’s either a viper or not, but if it shows up in the open it gets bludgeoned to death anyway, “just to be sure”. Local news often report similar events during the summer, not to denounce the barbarity but to spread alarmism about “snake invasions” in the city.
I tried to encourage people to research snakes but only ever caught the interest of those who were open minded about them from the start. There’s just too much deeply ingrained bias against them.
My consolation is that snakes tend to be very elusive and perceptive.
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You did know that was a movie reference, right?
Oh, yes, one more: I am surprised to discover that so many people think that dripping pine resin is a fungus.
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Oh dude here in Mexico a viper, a boa, a colubrid and a snake are complete synonyms…
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I just saw someone on a bird ID forum share a photo of an American Robin asking for ID help. I’m no bird expert either but I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to anyone else who didn’t know what a Robin was.
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What???!!!
In fact I’ve seen vultures commonly resting with wings open, as well as hawks and other stuff.
People here don’t know Fieldfares, even though these loud birds are everywhere and nest near houses, both name and birds themselves are out of public knowledge.
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Yes, but what @Mercedes-Fletcher said is even more surprising since robins are extremely iconic and well known for pretty much every American (at least almost)…
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Sorry BTW, that ‘‘nothingnothing’’ post was only to see if I still could post things here at this thread because I already posted more than three times.
They live everywhere, they have similar lifestyle to Am. robins, they spend tons of time on the ground in cities and in the country, there’s no person in range of that bird who didn’t see/hear them physically, but they just don’t notice, maybe when birds gather in thousands to eat berries in winter they do get noticed, but people still don’t know what they are. Sure, they’re not as iconic as thrush nightingale or bullfinch, but, this fame doesn’t go well too, people don’t know how first one looks, call females of the second one “sparrows” and think they fly away for summer. And every year (winter, of course) people complain that there’re no bullfinches, even if they literally sit on every tree.
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Yes, maybe those are very common but American robins are extremely well known (although not as I used to believe hehehe) because not only they are extremely abundant in the US, but they are literally part of American culture, they are such an icon of spring, without even mentioning its beautiful song. And they are literally the bird little kids see nesting at their backyards, those blue eggs are so famous.
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When people talk about saving bees, they only think about honeybees when more than 20,000 species of bees live around the world. That’s insane! I don’t know why they don’t understand honeybees are domesticated, feral invasive animals that compete with native wildlife and are less effective pollinating.
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I think it’s more of a pity when a common bird is not known by anyone but naturalists than when it is known to wider public, but not everyone. When there’s a pretty big bird that hops around on the grass in the centre of huge city, you’d think its name will not be a suprise for those who look at it. Their sounds are very iconic too, but not as for other thrushes.
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Hey that is a vey beautiful bird song!
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I know what a fieldfare is even though I don’t live in their range! I saw a lot on my trip to Norway in 2019, and learned their name through iNat.
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I also have a story (among many others), and a recent one.
One of these days I was bored and decided to send a picture of a monstrous looking robberfly to an acquaintance who is a biology, history, and geography teacher. I sent her the picture just because I thought she would like it. When she saw it she told me it was a pretty insect, and I had the idea to ask her what it is. She had no idea, and I was stumped. ‘‘Dragonfly? Baby cricket? Cicada? Moth? Grasshopper?’’ she said. I was very surprised, I mean, if I see a robberfly without knowing what it is, at least I would give up and recognize it is an unknown insect species to me. They are not a very well known insect so it wouldn’t be surprising. But confusing them with a grasshopper? A BABY cricket?? A dragonfly??! A moth!!! No way, they are extremely different insects and very distinctive. But she was very anxious to know what that alien-looking insect was. So she even asked some of her students, and they gave even crazier suggestions: bee, mantis, walking stick, beetle… What!!! Mantis?! How could that be a mantis? Or a beetle!!! Without elytra!!! Is this a joke?
Later, she told me this: ‘‘I finally know what it is!!! A locust!’’. ‘‘Locusts are grasshoppers’’, I said to her.
She then asked google. She searched insect classification in internet, and then came up with a surprisingly random guess: ‘‘I finally know what it is, a braconid!’’.
Me: ''Braconid? Nope!
Many hours passed, and nobody could guess the insect. So I proceeded to tell her what it really was: a fly. ‘‘What???’’ she said. Yes, A FLY. She almost had a heart attack.
We were both busy, so I couldn’t explain to her the type of fly it was. But today I proposed her to try to figure out in three days the taxonomic family of which this fly was member. And she bravely and fervently accepted…
To be continued…
The conversation was in Spanish BTW, remember I live in Mexico.
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Do you have the link to that bird ID forum?
I heard the tale of someone handing in a box with a snake in it to one of the Scottish police forces. The snake was taken to a zoo, where it was identified as the caterpillar of the elephant hawkmoth.
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