Tweets,
I had considered putting in my two cents worth on this issue and am
forced in to action due to Andy Stepnieski's message which sums up my
feelings better than I could have expressed it.
If you can't ever see them and only the elite of the birding royalty do
say they see them but aren't going to let the commoners see the royal
treasures then people start thinking that they are mythical birds and just
let the princes worry about protecting their damn birds.
Bob Norton
In a message dated 8/4/99 8:41:06 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
steppie at wolfenet.com writes:

<< Generally, I feel it best to give the birding public the opportunity a
chance to observe rare and sensitive species. Some of these individuals are
going to be harassed to the point they leave the area or their breeding
disrupted, thus "sacrificed" for the cause. However, in the long run, if we
aren't able to see these incredible creatures, the critical attention and
protection they deserve might not be there.
>>
I might add that birds that are common in some areas (most species) when
their numbers increase are going expand their nesting territories. Their
success or failure may have nothing to do with humans. An example is the
BLACK-THROATED SPARROW which nest in WA only when there is a severe drought
in their preferred territory. When conditions return to normal in their
preferred area they return there.
Also, I understand, geographically marginal nesters do not have the greatest
success
in fledging young. We are apt to think that they were harassed. Most can take
a surprising amount of harassment. I think of the Madera Canyon ELF OWLS,
themselves marginal being at a higher altitude than we usually think of them,
e.g., above the Saguaro Cactus range, who are nightly serenaded by tape
recorders at dusk but have continued to use the same hole in a phone pole for
decades. When I was at Bentsen State Park this spring we camped near a known
nest hole of an ELF OWL and each day at dusk 20 to 30 birders were there with
binocs or scopes to see it appear at its hole.
I understand that they have had GREAT GRAY OWLS on a golf course at Bend,
OR for some years and have even made some arrangement at times with non golf
cart birders to see the bird or birds. The management is proud of and
protective of them. The owls do well in such a public place because teenagers
and other slobs are not allowed to wander around shooting anything that moves
with their 22. In areas of the desert southwest BURROWING OWLS do much better
in city limits or Native American cemeteries because people call the cops if
someone is shooting and the Indians have intense feelings that owls are dead
souls who will cause you great trouble if you harm them.
Guess I got carried away.
Bob Norton