[EBB Sightings] Fw: BIRDER BEHAVIOR

Birders: I am forwarding this post from Oregon birders online


--------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 16:14:05 -0800

Dear Katy,

	I agree with Katy 100%. I don�t think birders understand the DAMAGE
they do to the birds they claim to admire. Lets imagine I am a Principal
of a large grammar school. I ask you if my school can visit your home
and  ask you questions to learn about your wonderful lifestyle. Wanting
to help students to learn and expand their knowledge, you say, yes.  

	For the next 6 months, you have students coming to your house, at all
hours, one at a time , not on your schedule, but on their schedule. You
don�t want to be rude so you give each of them your time and effort. You
find some of them very noisy, some arrive on skateboards, others litter
your yard, some call you on the phone and want to talk and talk....  and
now you understand that some birds ( common, rarities, and endangered)
can have the same problem you are having. Folks, don�t be selfish. Turn
it around and see it from a bird�s point of view. 

	Haven�t the learned warned us about Not using recordings? Spotted Owls
are eaten by other owls? Predators are wanting to see what you find so
interesting! So we have to ask, what are WE as birders, and what are YOU
individually doing for the survival of the bird species.  WE and YOU
should DO NO HARM!  But you do anyway, and I for one can�t understand
why. Is a tick more important than the bird.

	Pat Waldron
	East of Scio
	Linn Co.



> Katy Averill wrote:
> 
>   There have been several messages concerning usage of various
> machines to play bird calls in order to lure birds into view.  So far
> I haven�t seen any discussion about the ethics of such usage.
> 
>   We�ve been on trips with people, and one bird trip company,  who
> called birds in this way and on 3 trips with a birding company that
> feels that the waste of the bird�s energy in answering is not
> justified by the customer, or individual birder, being able to make
> another tick on his/her list.  Does anyone know to what extent
> breeding, etc., is affected by playing the calls especially in popular
> areas?   Katy
> 
>     ---------------------------------------------------------------
> _______________________________________________