> >Chris Hill wrote:
> >Didn't ABA just change their policy on this a year or two ago? I remember
> >a big to-do in Birding, and article/announcement: "Heard Birds Count!"
> >(and a small backlash from a prominent lister who felt the change somehow
> >cheapened listing).
> >
> >
> Then Mike Patterson said:
> Yes, new ABA rules now allow one to count heard only birds. When one considers
> that for some species, hearing is the best (if not the only) method for
> identification, it seem ludicrous to have to see some birds to count them.

Hurrah!! This is the way it should be. After the 1986 ABA COnvention
in Tucson, where the ABA Board had to ban Nightjar chasing after the
first trip to Madera about killed one, we should be more aware.

>
> I think most of us draw the line at environmental damage, but what is
> environmental damage? I think driving my car, burning fossil fuel and adding
> to global warming through carbon dioxide emissions is environmental damage,
> so I rarely chase (the Tillamook Hooded Oriole was only 70 miles away and I
> stayed home).

This is a good point, but since we'd been planning on coasting anyway,
might as well go there (plus once I write up a report, I can post it
here on Tweeters for commentary as I promised before).
Also, I think there is more than environmental
damage that needs to be examined--it seems that governmental officials
have deemed certain environmental damage legal, and certain acts in
protest of this damage illegal. Hopping a fence in a cow pasture is not
necessarily doing environmental damage, but if posted, it tends to be
illegal. To quote Alanis Morrisette, "Isn't it ironic, don't you
think?" . . .

Before this breaks down into a discussion of Gramscian
hegemonics and the nature of power, I think I'll go back to grading
exciting bibliographic exercises. Perhaps at Yakathon we can quaff and
philosophize over such issues. RK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "I like a beer buzz early in the morning."
Hm: Portland, OR --Sheryl Crow
Wk: Clark College "Only if it's Duff--BRRRRRRRRRRPPPPP!"
Vancouver, WA --Homer's friend Barney
rkorpi at clark.edu