I agree. I'm certainly not going to force anyone to carry an activist banner,
but it's comical that politically passive birders would lob insults at those
who are trying to save the birds you like to watch. But if the destruction of
tropical habitat is not local enough, perhaps we can discuss the destruction
of local habitat and its effect on the local bird population. I have plenty
of topics and photos...quarries, clearcut, nicely landscaped urban yards
filled with Cascade granite and Western red cedar decking, the Microsoft
sprawl (see that recent aerial photo in the Seattle Times? Bill got his 520
exit. All those buildings are sited on what was once forest and seasonal
wetland...in 1987 quail used to feed in the field known as Easttrek...no
more), land use actions, Paul Allen, et cetera et cetera. Birding without an
interest in habitat and a commitment to its preservation is reprehensible. I
see this area filling up with people who have the dollars to buy the
lifestyle but not the sense to figure out how to preserve its existence.
Spend a Saturday in the new, improved REI and watch dainty little couples
spend hundreds of dollars on outdoor gear because it's chic. Notice the
proliferation of sports utility vehicles driven by people who've never put a
foot on the muddy mountains of Index. Watch people build on slide-prone
Interlaken lopes and then sue their neighbors for attempting to do the same.
Vote for Gary Locke. Consumption...gotta hate it.

Wallis Bolz