I started to birdwatch only 3 years ago, and honestly, I now feel quite confident about most of my ID's. Sure enough there are some birds I m still struggling with (the gulls in particular), but I spend a disproportionnate amount of time studying in detail my trusty Sibley Guide, so my confidence level has increased exponentially over time.
Maybe too fast, if I think about it.
A few weeks ago, the
Hands-On Museum of Ann Arbor organized a special event, in which some birds of prey were supposed to be shown. That enough was enough to convince me to go, but the whole event in general (a presentation of a bunch of unusual animals) was really nicely organized, and all the kids were having a blast.
We naturally started with the bird room, in which four birds of prey were shown. I immediately assumed that all the birds here were local rescued birds, because people who do this kind of volunteer work tend to be very active and show their birds on a regular basis (I actually think this is a requirement for them)
The first 2 birds were obviously a Peregrine Falcon and an American Kestrel

Close views of the birds were available, and it was a great opportunity to admire those birds.
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
The next one was obviously a Great Horned Owl, which is a bird I always like to see or even hear in the woods

On the last bird, I made a stop. It seemed to be a Red Tailed Hawk, but the size was really small. To be honnest, I did not think much, as I was quite sure those birds were local. I thought maybe the bird had been sick or something, and did not grow properly.

Well, it turned out I am an ignorant idiot. The owl was actually a Eurasian Eagle Owl (the largest owl on the planet, I was told), and the red tail hawk was not a red tail hawk, but an Augur Buzzard, an african hawk species.
That made me think I don't really know all my birds, even the american ones. In the unlikely event that a Eurasian Eagle Owl would have show up in the botanical garden of Ann Arbor, I would have simply take a look at the bird, and missed a once a lifetime opportunity to discover a new Michigan (maybe even american) record.
I guess that makes all the difference between the great birders (like the one who found an ancient murrelet on the lake Michigan two days ago), and the rest. Maybe I should double check my kestrel ID, btw. Who knows, maybe it was a Eurasian Kestrel after all.