Subject: Re: snipe and landscape design
Date: Dec 7 12:34:32 1994
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


>Dennis Paulson writes:
> > In response to Emily Mandelbaum's posting:
> >
> > Yes, those were certainly snipe. I don't think they were too inconvenienced
> > by being flushed by you, as a bird's life is full of flushing and
> > relocating. As long as you don't disturb a nest and make it fail, you
> > aren't harming birds by flushing them.
>
>It may happen that flushing birds can be harmful to them. It can be the case
>when quite places are scarce, thus flushed birds have to fly in circle for a
>long time before being able to land again. It may also be the case in
>small nature sanctuaries with hunting around them. When flushing, the birds
>may by shot by these nice :-) guys.
>--------------------------------------------------
>A bird in the bush is better than two in the hand.
>
>Serge Le Huitouze School of Computing Science
>email: serge at cs.sfu.ca Simon Fraser University
>tel: (604) 291-5423 Burnaby, British Columbia
>fax: (604) 291-3045 V5A 1S6 Canada

I think I'll stop writing that it's all right to disturb birds; I know it
will make a lot of people happier. As I wrote Peter Rauch, I have been
trying mightily to live in my own idealized world, that is, to remain in
the past in my mind-set. In that past, there weren't enough of us to make a
difference when we flushed a bird or picked up a feather. Now there are too
many of us in most parts of the world, and, unfortunately, it *does* make a
difference. Anyone know of any good job for a museum director and/or nature
enthusiast in a coastal state with no people?

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416