Subject: Re: Science, Ethics, and Harassment of Birds (was CC Longspur)
Date: Dec 13 07:09:12 1995
From: Don Baccus - donb at Rational.COM


>As Bernt Heinrich (sp?) might phrase it,
>(see 'One Man's Owl'), this longspur has become more than the
>'statistical' bird; it has become Tweeter's bird.

One might also claim that this single bird is much less than the
'statistical' bird...

OK, I'll bite: what would be the scientific value of sexing this
stray? Would it tell us anything about the species that is not
known to science? Not to the birders or ornithologists on tweeters,
mind you, but to science - i.e. information we couldn't learn by
communication with specialists who have access to a sizable collection?

Now, satisfying curiousity and puzzle solving are both gratifying
activities. But though fondness of both activities is common
among scientists, that doesn't make either of those activities
"scientific".

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>