Steve Herman wrote:

> And I am told that one prominent birder who happens also to be a gillnetter
has lobbied
> hard against the initiative; the same person was wringing his hands and
> writing (very good) letters a few years ago when some irresponsible
> researchers from a local prominent university were drowning shorebirds in
> their mist nets at Grays Harbor. He was quite right to protest those
> needles bird deaths.

Before replying to this I should tell you that I have a vested interest since
one of the people involved is my girlfriend. I decided to report this to the
list since the matter was reported in WOS news and is therefore in the public
domain.

The incident to which Steve refers happened in April 89 when Herb Wilson and
Katiie O'Reilly from the University Of Washington were catching shorebirds,
specifically western sandpipers, at Bottle Beach on the south side of Grays
Harbor. The birds were being caught an blood samples taken for Katies Ph.D.
research on the endocrinology (hormones and stuff) of migrating western
sandpipers.

Lanny Carpenter (the gillnetter, Steve referred to) was speaking to Herb and
Katie who were processing some of the birds they caught. During the
conversation a flock of dowitchers flew into one of their mist nets. Some of
the birds were caught in the lower shelf of the mist net and with a rising
tide were hanging in the water. Katie saw the flock as it hit the net and both
her and Herb immediately rushed out to get them out. Since the tide was
coming in, the net was moved to a safe distance before attempting to extract
the birds. All birds were apparently alive when the net was moved.

On extracting the birds, the five which had been caught in the lower shelf
had died. All the other birds were successfully extracted and released
immediately. All of the released birds were able to fly away with no obvious
side effects of being caught.

Whether the birds had died as a result of being in the water or as a result
of the stress of being caught or a combination it is not possible to
accurately tell. However it takes several minutes for a bird to drown. The
birds caught were not immersed in the water and the net was moved as soon as
Katie and Herb reached the net so the time the birds were in the water would
certainly be less than 1 minute. As a result, it seems reasonable to conclude
that stress was the largest contributing factor

I know that Mr. Carpenter claims that over 20 birds died in the incident and
many more were maimed. This is obviously at odds with the story told to me by
Katie O'Reilly.

Apparently the incident was reported in an edition WOS News through a letter
written by Mr. Carpenter. I should point that the no chance to redress to
accusations was extended to Herb Wilson or Katie O'Reilly by WOS so therefore
the one-sided version of this story has persisted.


No bander likes having dead birds on their hands, however accidents do
happen. Shorebird banding is potentially more dangerous than banding other
species as it is possible to catch a large number of birds in one go. As to
Steve's charge of them being irresponsible, I have been banding with Katie on
several occaisions and she is certainly a very competent and experienced
bander. So having direct experience of the people involved I would refute the
charge.

As to the deaths being needless - perhaps, though only in the sense that any
accident can be avoided. Unfortunate might be a better choice of words.

Stuart
--
Stuart MacKay, Ravenna Ave NE, Seattle