Hi Tweets,

If Jetskis are the trailbikes of the water, then kayaks and canoes are the
off-leash dogs.

If I had to count the number of seabirds I've seen displaced by kayakers
approaching feeding, resting and staging flocks just in the last few years
when human displacement started becoming as big a conservation problem on
the water as off-leash dogs and irresponsible owners have become on land,
I'd have to say that, speaking conservatively as a one-time professional
bird-surveyor, I've watched close to two million birds displaced by kayakers
approaching too close for the birds' comfort.

Most kayakers don't care, and like dog-owners ignoring requests to leash
their harassing dogs, do what they want, regardless. Some do care but don't
know better. A small, perverse minority do it to demonstrate their contempt
either for those trying to protect the birds or for the wildlife itself. For
these last, as an exasperated adult near the end of patience, I have
fantasies of putting them in the Time-Out Room until their tantrum is over.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net
years
when human displacement started becoming as big a conservation problem on
the water as off-leash dogs and irresponsible owners have become on land,
I'd have to say that, speaking conservatively as a one-time professional
bird-surveyor, I've watched close to two million birds displaced by kayakers
approaching too close for the birds' comfort.

Most kayakers don't care, and like dog-owners ignoring requests to leash
their harassing dogs, do what they want, regardless. Some do care but don't
know better. A small, perverse minority do it to demonstrate their contempt
either for those trying to protect the birds or for the wildlife itself. For
these last, as an exasperated adult near the end of patience, I have
fantasies of putting them in the Time-Out Room until their tantrum is over.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net