> It is strictly against state and federal laws to possess birds or parts
> thereof (including nests), except for (1) game species (not sure if you
> need to have a hunting license on hand for the year you bagged your
> pheasant mounted on the mantle) and (2) unprotected species, of which we
> have Rock Dove, European Starling, and House Sparrow. All you educators out
> there can do what you want with these species (none of them have an easily
> acquired typical bird nest, unfortunately).

Hmmm. I band hawks, and unfortunately from time to time we have fatalities
(this is not unique to hawk banders; our rate is about 1 per thousand
banded; fatalities are most commonly coop-kills-sharpie or redtail-kills-most-
anything). We sent a reporter from a Salt Lake City newspaper (Deseret
News, church owned) off with a sharpie which was killed to be donated
to the University of Utah.

We joked around a lot about federal law, then realized he was taking us
most seriously. Oops. Anyway, at our site we had 1) Professor in
the Raptor Biology program at Boise State 2) ex USFW endangered species
biologist who, among other things oversaw the creation of a refuge to
protect a bobwhite subspecies in southern New Mexico and 3) the
assistant refuge manager of the Ruby Lakes NWR, whose enforcement
ticket is up to date.

These three all explained to the reporter that possesion laws do allow
for transport to a properly licensed organization. The problem,
of course, is proof of one's intent to actually deposit the remains at
such a site, and proof that one didn't kill the critter oneself. Our
operation has a salvage/possesion permit for both the states of Utah and
Nevada, and we wrote him an authoritative-sounding note citing our permit.

Our site is eight miles west of the Nevada/Utah border (i.e. in Nevada)
and that night, on his way home, the reporter got extremely nervous
about possession - when we'd been playing our little practical joke
we'd done a damned good job! Transporting contraband over state
borders! Years in the fed slammer! etc. So he buried the dead
critter.

Funny thing is, he wrote up a column in the Deseret News, including
his fear of the law and what he kind of though was some sort of
conspiracy to trick him into violating it! Since he was frightened
of the legal implications, it seemed kind of humorous that he admitted
the crime in the press. We were entertained.

> Educational institutions (universities, museums, schools) and groups (local
> Audubon societies, for example) can possess bird specimens, as far as I can
> understand the law.

It is also easy for organizations to get salvage and possesion permits. In
Oregon, you need a state permit. I'm not certain that you need a fed
permit. While you can't collect (i.e. cause a living specimen to become
a dead one) under such a permit, you can scrape pavement and make use
of the result. We do so all the time, using parts and specimens in
our travelling public school programs. Of course, our major source
of supply is our rehab center...

> Many people pick up dead birds, hold them in freezers, and eventually get
> them to the nearest educational intitution, an illegal act that has not so
> far resulted in prosecution by wildlife enforcement people, to my
> knowledge. That doesn't mean that it couldn't happen, but I would expect it
> only as an aberration (an overzealous enforcement officer) at this time. Be
> warned, though, that a robin egg or flicker feather in your possession is
> contraband. It sounds scary, doesn't it? It is. Don't brag about it and
> don't encourage children to save such things without understanding the
> law's involvement.

This is also true of living animals, yet individuals transport same to
our rehab center all the time (far too often, for our budgetary taste).
I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for this. If someone
were caught transporting an eagle or peregrine, they would probably have
some real explaining to do, but then again most person-on-the-street
types probably are going to call for help with such footy critters.

If someone is picking up dead things on a frequent basis for an organization,
they should look into getting some documentation from them. A "note from
the teacher" might go a long way if one runs afoul of an over-enthusastic
hall monitor.

> The law was made with very good intention, and we need it to counter the
> rampant illegal killing of birds and other wildlife that occurs. The
> wildlife officer will ask "how do I know you didn't shoot that flicker?,"
> and all you can say is "trust me." Remember that the deer poacher can say
> the same thing about a piece of deer hide. But I still wish there could be
> a bit more of situational ethics built into the law, so people who don't
> fit the profile of flicker poachers wouldn't (couldn't) be prosecuted for
> possession of those feathers. As I said, it's not being done (yet).

This is, of course, the crux of the matter. The law needs to be tight
because jerks are often really good at lying, and if you allow for special
exceptions they'll learn about them. Since the critter is often the
only hard evidence available, the law restricts possession, in addition to the
means of aquiring same or the disposition of the remains. "gee, officer,
I was planning to give these hundred bear gall bladders to the local
U!" Yeah...

But law enforcement types are typically not as thick-headed as one might
think, and are often aware of the intended target audience of various laws.
Selective enforcement is very much built into the system.

-Don Baccus-