Deb wrote:

> Anglers tend to be quiet so they are ignored.
Perhaps a raft full of birders are more threatening than a raft full of
non-birders because the people are all looking at the eagle.<

Somebody's hilarious list of birding laws included
"Binoculars repel birds."

One experience of that which sticks in my mind was doing
the CBC at Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island, where we walked
along a high bluff overlooking the ocean, counting eiders
and other sea ducks. Although we were so far away that I
could hardly detect the colors on the head of a male King
Eider, whenever we swung a big spotting scope towards
a flock, they all dove. The scopes must have looked like
big cannons to them.

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
CMaack at compuserve.com