Exams have been a big issue lately. And over the years there's been a steady "grade inflation" Which is making the whole exam system a bit of a farce. But ... are us birders experiencing a rather dodgy " tick inflation" scenario ? A few posts ago, in the aftermath of "The Great Shambolic Exam Fiasco", I wrote about how you could make exams piss-easy or, at the other extreme, as hard as nails ... complete with examples. And then I showed you the sort of exam that Eric Hardy might have written. It was certainly unique ... and in many ways, rather baffling. 925-eric-hardys-exam-paper.html And so will this one be ...yes, 'tis the sort of exam that Bill Oddie might set ... as imagined by ME ... " Possibly Bill Oddie's Baffling Brain-Basher"." [1] How short should your binocular strap be ? Or long, for that matter. [2] Where do I pretend to do most of my birding ? [3] Why do "experts" tell us that there's a lifetime of birdwatching right where you live, and then those same "experts" fly all over the planet to make "wildlife" documentaries and make pots of money out of it ? [4] Do you have "dodgy ticks" on your lists ..... ? [a] Yes [b] No. [c] Er...sort of [d] Yes and no. [5] Which of these scenarios have ended in a "dodgy tick" for you .. [a] You miss the bird by 2 seconds because the twit in the car in front took ages to get out of the way. But, of course, you counted it anyway. [b] Listening to your "companions" on the way back, you realised that the bird they saw was not the one that you were looking at..... oh dear. [c] "They" all saw "it", but you were carefully drawing a cow-pat which you thought was "it." But, yet again, you ticked it. [d] The "rarity" was half a mile away, flying up up and away but they all assured you that "that" was "it". Rather mysteriously, there is a detailed, annotated drawing of "it" in your notebook. [e] When you get back from your Scilly fortnight, your next-door neighbour gleefully shows you a photo of a Veery in your back garden. But you tick it, I mean, it was in your garden an hour ago, and its not your fault that you were away at the time. [6] At what point would you not tick a rarity.... [a] It is staggering about, then drops dead. [b] It breaths its last breath as you arrive. [c] It expires 5 seconds before you arrive. [d] Its been dead for an hour or so. [e] 50% of it is sticky-out bones. [f] Only bones and feathers are left. [g] Only its head is left. [h] Only its beak is left. [i] Just one feather is left. [j] Only the last centimetre of a feather is left. [k] The bird has flown, but you find one of the bugs that were living on it, and you pay £377 to get the DNA from it and it turns out to be a bird you need, so, er ... ? [7] You find a ring under a hedge .. an American ring. You send the number to the " American Ringing Board" or whatever, and find out it was from an Ovenbird ... do you tick it ? [8] Seeing as Universities are now giving almost everybody brilliant grades, would you consider ... [a] Getting to be a professor of birdy-sort-of-things. [b] Then doing some dodgy "research." [c] Creating lots of splits, mostly named after he-or-she. [d] And then ticking them all. Right folks .... I hope you've all got good answers to those tricky questions. But now is the time for the music ....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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