Subject: bird ethics
Date: Jan 26 19:34:06 1999
From: S. Downes - sdownes at u.washington.edu



On Tue, 26 Jan 1999, Lou Ann Harris wrote:

> All too often I see the words "flush" or "pursue" when reading birding
> reports on Tweeters. I guess I'm a purest, but I would never think of
> harrassing a bird just to get a better look, no matter how rare.

While I generally agree with this comment and as was said its better to be
safe. Harrassing (torment, a synonym) and stressing is generally used to
indicate activities that disrupt the natural or normal activities of these
birds or for that matter creatures in general. I watched juncos repeatedly
flush while waiting for the Bunting to show up, both with predators and
mostly with no predators present. Similar situation can probably be
attested to by anybody who has spent time watching sparrow flocks.

Under the definition given above, this "flush" is harrassment, yet I doubt
that it disturbed the bird normal actions enough to cause damage to its
natural habits.
Since I am from the scientific side, I also want to put a
pluf in for a pet peave of mine regarding this subject that Jerry was
kidding about but many are not. Alot of people react very negatively to
banding, trapping or other forms of capture in birds and animals and
proclaim it stresses the birds. I challenge those people before making
such claims to find literature or other evidence that shows that the birds
natural biological cycle was disrupted by this action. On the other hand
tremendous good can come of it in the way of information. I do want to put
a disclaimer on the above statement: I want to see more than isolated
incidents of "harm" to captured birds, rather ample evidence that your
claim is justified. It is too easy to make claims that have no real basis,
while it is very hard to make claims that have a backbone, however those
claims in my opinion are the only ones worth making.

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA