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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/Ill-Dinner5269 on 2025-09-30 15:51:44+00:00.

I’ve been into birdwatching for about 5 years now and last year our local birding community had the most insane drama I’ve ever witnessed over what was probably just a regular ass bird.

There’s this guy in our area, let’s call him Tom, who’s been birding for like 30 years. He’s one of those dudes who takes it VERY seriously, has all the expensive gear, logs every sighting in three different apps, the whole deal. In October he posted a photo on our regional birding forum claiming he spotted a Kirtland’s Warbler which would be a huge deal because they’re super rare and almost never seen in our state.

The problem? The photo was blurry as hell. Like you could barely make out that it was a bird, let alone what species. But Tom was absolutely convinced and started getting defensive when people questioned it. He wrote this massive post with “evidence” analyzing the wing bars and color patterns but honestly it looked like a common Yellow Warbler to most of us.

Things got heated. Tom accused the skeptics of being jealous and gatekeeping. Someone made a joke comparison photo of a potato and said it had better resolution. Tom reported like 15 people to the forum moderators. The forum split into believers and non believers and people were writing actual essays in the comments arguing about warbler taxonomy.

Then Tom tried to get the sighting officially recorded with the state audubon society. They rejected it due to insufficient photo evidence. He completely melted down, claimed there was a conspiracy against him, and started posting the same blurry photo on every birding group within 200 miles asking for validation.

The final straw was when he showed up at the nature preserve where he “saw” it and started harassing other birders, demanding they help him find it again to prove he was right. The preserve banned him for a year.

Our forum eventually had to make a rule that all rare bird claims need clear photographic evidence or they get deleted. Tom left the community entirely and I heard he’s now posting on some cryptozoology boards instead.

The funny part is I have some money aside that I wanted to spend it on a new spotting scope and this whole mess made me realize the drama ain’t worth it sometimes. I just stick to casual backyard birding now and honestly it’s way more chill.