I decided to wait awhile for the furor to die down over the earlier posting
and counter postings about birders on the Skagit flats being unwelcome
because of behaviour, clothing, etc. to put this question out:

Having spent the first half of my life in the not particularly tolerant part
of Texas called the Rio Grande Valley I have seen some very real animosity
(and I once shared it) towards birders (or anyone from out of town) dressing
up in clothing that we considered too colorful or whatever, but I am not
asking about cultural opinions here-- what about bright clothing on birders
affecting bird sightings?

A while ago Clarice and I went on an expensive commercial trip to Venezuela
with Steve Hilty (not our first tropical birding trip by any means) and we
pretty much ignored the one sentence in Steve's packing list that said "long
sleeved dark hiking shirt". I had my white T shirts and colorful Patagonia
gore-tex, and my white cowboy hat. Steve is a gentleman, and of course we
were the customers and thus always right, but at one point he did privately
tell me that our clothing was not appropriate and was detrimental to our
birding "success". Only one time, when I went in to photograph a Harpy Eagle
(through my spotting scope, to recall another recent thread) did he insist I
take off my raingear and, literally, cover it up with some limbs to hide it.
Steve said that on some tropical trips people in stand out clothes were
unwelcome and might even be told to buy something else before going out with
the group. He also said that he felt that many birders would do better
dressed in camoflage; after all, birding is hunting.

Of course, we were following antshrikes, musician wrens, and other denizens
of the shrub. What do you think about this in the open areas, like in the
Skagit? Obviously there are differences, and of course a group of people on
the shoulder of the road are visible no matter what they wear, but I like to
look for birds in small groups or alone, and in the birding classes I have
taken no one has mentioned whether they think clothing matters or not. Are
birds any more afraid of people in Co-Op garish clothing or not?
-------------------------------------
Name: Jerry Broadus
jbroadus at seanet.com
901-16th. St S.W.
Puyallup, Wa. 98371
206-845-3156
Time: 20:18:56