[mou] mou-net Digest, Vol 463, Issue 2

Jim Fitzpatrick jim at carpenternaturecenter.org
Tue Jul 29 10:28:35 CDT 2008


After two "circus style" events that happened here at Carpenter Nature
Center upon reporting rare birds we have stopped doing it. Witness the
issue of the nesting Barn owls in Hastings a few years back. The
Landowner became so upset at people's behavior that they cut everyone
off. Seeing any rare bird should be deemed by everyone as a privilege
not a right. We need to make certain, absolutely certain, that harm does
not come to these creatures because of our desire to see them ....AND
the neighborhood and landowners must be given all the respect they
deserve. Too many disrespectful birders will simply turn this reporting
mechanism into useless chatter.

Jim Fitzpatrick

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Subject: mou-net Digest, Vol 463, Issue 2

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: WEVI tape discussion (Richard Wood)
   2. Re: WEVI tape discussion (douglas chapman)
   3. Rare Bird Disturbance - White-eyed Vireo in MN,	Loggerhead
      Shrike in WI (Pastor Al Schirmacher)
   4. birding about the area (Steve Weston)
   5. RFI: birding I35 to Dallas (Frank Berdan)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:51:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Richard Wood <rwoodphd at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [mou] WEVI tape discussion
To: mou-net at moumn.org, mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
Message-ID: <590800.59726.qm at web50010.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

It seems to me that this discussion took place last year about the
Yellow-breasted Chat that was at Black Dog Lake, and at the time, I
wondered what was the point of everyone getting all upset, because it's
just going to happen again.

The fact is, it's "human nature" for people to act the way that they do.
People are going to want to see a bird that is "rare" when it's posted,
and some of them are going to take any means necessary to see it,
whether it be to drive their vehicle where they shouldn't (which
happened in Maryland recently) or to play tapes, or to throw a rock at a
rail and kill it.

I wish we could put an end to this, "we can end this behavior if enough
of us post ethics "rules"", because it just isn't going to stop someone
from seeing a bird once it has been posted.  As I told a person in
Maryland last year that was complaining about birders turning the
location of a pair of Long-eared Owls into a circus, "if the original
poster didn't want it to come to this, he shouldn't have posted the
bird's location".  Maybe we should do that instead of citing "birding
ethics" and then having everyone and his brother posting asking us to
"go by the rules"?  In my almost 10 years as a birder, I've seen that
asking others to "go by the rules" doesn't work.  It doesn't work in
other parts of life, so why do we think it will work here?

Richard

 Richard L. Wood, Ph. D.
Hastings, MN
rwoodphd at yahoo.com



----- Original Message ----
From: Diana Doyle <diana at managingthewaterway.com>
To: mattjim at earthlink.net; mou-net at moumn.org; mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 8:22:11 PM
Subject: Re: [mou] WEVI tape discussion


Are birders also destined to fall victim to Garrett Hardin's tragedy of
the commons? It would seem that there is no such thing as "little tape
playing" when it is multiplied over all the birders who want to see a
particular bird.

I agree with Jim. It's a disservice to the bird and to the person who
then regrets sharing their excitement of an unusual bird with the
broader birding community.

We must ask ourselves what our priorities are--if we are first and
foremost advocates for birds, their well-being, and their habitat.
Ultimately that's what being a birder is all about. 
Diana Doyle
S. Minneapolis

-------------


On Jul 28, 2008, at 16:09 , James Mattsson wrote:

THIS IS A RARE BIRD THAT IS ON TERRITORY WHERE MANY BIRDERS HAVE A
CHANCE TO HEAR AND SEE IT !!!!   TAPES SHOULD NOT BE USED "SPARINGLY" OR
ANY OTHER WAY !! TAPES CAN ONLY BE HARMFUL TO THE BIRD WHICH MIGHT BE
MATED (PREDATION, ENERGY USED TO DEFEND AGAINST NON-EXISTENT NEIGHBORS,
ETC), AND MAY PRECLUDE OTHER BIRDERS FROM SEEING/HEARING THE BIRD. 
 
THIS IS WHY I NO LONGER POST BIRDS I FIND THAT I FEEL THAT ARE
SUSCEPTIBLE TO TAPE PLAYING. 
 
HERE IS THE COMPLETE ABA CODE OF ETHICS.
 
http://www.americanbirding.org/abaethics.htm
 
Jim


      
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:41:40 -0500
From: douglas chapman <rhameprairie at sio.midco.net>
Subject: Re: [mou] WEVI tape discussion
Cc: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net, mou-net at moumn.org
Message-ID: <6BFB60B1-DA11-4DA1-98E4-D6EE6C9A8A18 at sio.midco.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Well said.

The Cassin's Sparrows which have been found (and confirmed breeding)  
here in South Dakota have not been posted for this reason. It's a bit  
too bad, but understandable since even the ABA magazine "Birding" now  
calls bird finding a "sport."

It seems that tapes are our steroids.


Doug Chapman
Sioux Falls, SD

On Jul 29, 2008, at 7:51 AM, Richard Wood wrote:

> It seems to me that this discussion took place last year about the  
> Yellow-breasted Chat that was at Black Dog Lake, and at the time, I  
> wondered what was the point of everyone getting all upset, because  
> it's just going to happen again.
>
> The fact is, it's "human nature" for people to act the way that they  
> do.  People are going to want to see a bird that is "rare" when it's  
> posted, and some of them are going to take any means necessary to  
> see it, whether it be to drive their vehicle where they shouldn't  
> (which happened in Maryland recently) or to play tapes, or to throw  
> a rock at a rail and kill it.
>
> I wish we could put an end to this, "we can end this behavior if  
> enough of us post ethics "rules"", because it just isn't going to  
> stop someone from seeing a bird once it has been posted.  As I told  
> a person in Maryland last year that was complaining about birders  
> turning the location of a pair of Long-eared Owls into a circus, "if  
> the original poster didn't want it to come to this, he shouldn't  
> have posted the bird's location".  Maybe we should do that instead  
> of citing "birding ethics" and then having everyone and his brother  
> posting asking us to "go by the rules"?  In my almost 10 years as a  
> birder, I've seen that asking others to "go by the rules" doesn't  
> work.  It doesn't work in other parts of life, so why do we think it  
> will work here?
>
> Richard
>
> Richard L. Wood, Ph. D.
> Hastings, MN
> rwoodphd at yahoo.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Diana Doyle <diana at managingthewaterway.com>
> To: mattjim at earthlink.net; mou-net at moumn.org; mnbird at lists.mnbird.net
> Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 8:22:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [mou] WEVI tape discussion
>
> Are birders also destined to fall victim to Garrett Hardin's tragedy  
> of the commons? It would seem that there is no such thing as "little  
> tape playing" when it is multiplied over all the birders who want to  
> see a particular bird.
>
> I agree with Jim. It's a disservice to the bird and to the person  
> who then regrets sharing their excitement of an unusual bird with  
> the broader birding community.
>
> We must ask ourselves what our priorities are--if we are first and  
> foremost advocates for birds, their well-being, and their habitat.  
> Ultimately that's what being a birder is all about.
>
> Diana Doyle
> S. Minneapolis
>
> -------------
>
> On Jul 28, 2008, at 16:09 , James Mattsson wrote:
>
> THIS IS A RARE BIRD THAT IS ON TERRITORY WHERE MANY BIRDERS HAVE A  
> CHANCE TO HEAR AND SEE IT !!!!   TAPES SHOULD NOT BE USED  
> "SPARINGLY" OR ANY OTHER WAY !! TAPES CAN ONLY BE HARMFUL TO THE  
> BIRD WHICH MIGHT BE MATED (PREDATION, ENERGY USED TO DEFEND AGAINST  
> NON-EXISTENT NEIGHBORS, ETC), AND MAY PRECLUDE OTHER BIRDERS FROM  
> SEEING/HEARING THE BIRD.
>
> THIS IS WHY I NO LONGER POST BIRDS I FIND THAT I FEEL THAT ARE  
> SUSCEPTIBLE TO TAPE PLAYING.
>
> HERE IS THE COMPLETE ABA CODE OF ETHICS.
>
> http://www.americanbirding.org/abaethics.htm
>
> Jim
>
>
> ---
> This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists'  
> Union.  Mailing list membership available on-line at
http://moumn.org/subscribe.html 
> .
> -----
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with  
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:26:49 -0500
From: "Pastor Al Schirmacher" <pastoral at princetonfreechurch.net>
Subject: [mou] Rare Bird Disturbance - White-eyed Vireo in MN,
	Loggerhead Shrike in WI
To: <mou-net at moumn.org>, <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net>,	"Wisconsin
Birding
	Network" <wisbirdn at lawrence.edu>
Message-ID: <003801c8f187$24502410$3901a8c0 at PASTORAL>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

Seems that we have a clash of goals here.

We want to see the rare birds.  We want to protect the rare birds.  Both
are 
goods; both can be pursued in poor ways.

Here's a few potential suggestions towards the solution side of this 
problem - mostly to pursue constructive discussion:

1) The person who originally sees the bird becomes the "project
manager". 
She or he has the responsibility to learn the bird's status, then react 
accordingly.  "Accordingly" could be a detailed post if there are no 
problems - a general post that requires backchannel contact to learn
more 
details - or acting as the "guide" for viewing the bird with reasonable
time 
constraints - or not posting at all - or....

2) Birds in remoter locations might be more open to posting than urban 
birds, which might receive more birding pressure.  For example, don't
think 
the Lewis' Woodpecker in northern Wisconsin has received much pressure
at 
all.

3) Moderators or acknowledged birding "authorities" could develop and 
distribute short lists and rules about posting rare birds.  I'm not
talking 
about something elaborate, rather, at most 8 1/2" by 11" sheet that can
be 
quickly perused.

4) Birds that are published cannot be taped - perhaps a bit severe but
would 
end the conflict.

Thoughts?

Al Schirmacher
Princeton, MN
Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties 




------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:57:00 -0500
From: "Steve Weston" <sweston2 at comcast.net>
Subject: [mou] birding about the area
To: "mnbird" <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net>,	"Mou-net" <mou-net at moumn.org>
Message-ID: <005d01c8f18b$ef2c38a0$6501a8c0 at Weston72505>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

A quick trip out to Hutchinson on Monday sent me by way of New Germany
on 
local roads with HWY 7 closed.  I observed good shorebird habitat in a
small 
pond with several species (Killdeer, Pectoral, Least, Semi-Palmated SP,
L. 
Yellowlegs, perhaps more) on CR33 just south of town and at CR30 and
Yancy, 
a better known spot.  The shallow lake to the south of that area is too
well 
cloaked in willow thickets to be observed.  I also stopped at Purgatory 
Creek in Eden Prairie, which has limited habitat, but is interesting. 
Shorebirds included Least & Solitary.  More interesting was the two 
Red-necked grebes in cryptic molting plummage.

Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN
sweston2 at comcast.net 




------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:10:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Frank Berdan <fberdan3 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [mou] RFI: birding I35 to Dallas
To: MOU-NET <mou-net at moumn.org>
Message-ID: <574282.2635.qm at web51908.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Anyone familiar with good birds/locations between here and Dallas during
August?  Would appreciate any responses back-channel.

Will be dawdling southbound Aug 9-11.  Then after a week of outdoor
volunteering (wish me luck), back to MN at an even slower pace Aug
19-22.

Any sugggested detours off I-35 would be welcome.  Thanks,

Frank Berdan


      



------------------------------

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