On Tue, 30 Jan 1996, Stuart MacKay wrote:

[snip..snip]
>
> Bowerman Basin is not a ****ing circus !!!!!
>
Stuart--

I agree that Bowerman Basin should not be a circus, but
it's anybody's guess what will happen there with the
Shore Bird Festival they're planning. I assume that they're
not going to change much, but it can't help but attract more
viewers than it does even now. Hopefully, that will not
seriously affect the environment or get in the way of
the birds feeding up in preparation for their long journey.
It will focus more attention on the importance of that area
and perhaps the locals will keep their eye on things.
Diane Swickerath, Gray's Harbor Audubon president, seems very
knowlegeable about bird behavior and has good energy for
this. I will invite her to *Bird Talk* to discuss this
situation. When I set a date for her guest shot I'll
e-mail you and you can raise any concerns you might have
about the area, and I'll present them to her when we're
on the radio..I'm really interested in what arrangements
have been made for this festival..last year, Ken Jacobsen,
State Representative from the Seattle area, guested on
BT and he mentioned he thought this would be a significant
boost for the local economy without serious impact..I assume
that meant the birds..he's in town with the Leg, so perhaps
it's time for him to come back as well.

>
> >From what you have said I think it is reasonable to assume that
> some form of "stimulation" will be applied to the feeding flocks in
> order to let everybody present see the "spectacle".

Good, grief..(to quote Lucy) Why would anybody assume that!?
I can't imagine anyone doing such a thing. And, I can't imagine
any falconer who'd be stupid enough to put a falcon up over
shorebirds. In the first place, it's patently unlawful..
and secondly, there are too many
eagles around and any falconer can tell you how deadly an
eagle can be. It's simply not good hunting practice, nor is it
ethical nor is it legal..the only saltwater gamebirds I know of that
can legally be hunted are ducks, and falconers hunt them inland
in fields and sloughs..

Either this
> involves is simply flying a falcon at a distance, either to disturb
> the birds or to attract a peregrine into the area. I don't think
> people would be stupid enough to send a bird into the flocks of
> feeding shorebirds. However who can tell what a hunting bird will do
> once airborne with all that food out there !!!
>
no way anyone would intentionally do this..

> My first reaction to this is that it is likely to be highly illegal
> and certainly outrageously immoral.
>
absolutely right...

> So please, somebody email me and say I have it all wrong - however
> the evidence so far suggests otherwise.

Stuart...I know longer have the original post that started
all of this, but I would say the artificially stirring up those
shorebirds is something that none of us want to see. I'd even
go further and say that many of us will rally to stop it if
we find out that is in the plan. when I talked about the
*dunlin ballet* I was speaking of a natural phenomenon..in
fact I saw one later on the day we met as you were coming out of
Bottle Beach last summer and I was going in.

Thanks for asking for clarification on this one. You've raised
an issue that I had missed and I will pursue this with Diane
and ask her what the plan is for this first festival..
Meanwhile, I think I can speak for us all in the hope that
Bowerman stays as natural as it can...given the tremendous
tourist increase it witnesses each year during Spring migration.

Tom