Subject: police encounters
Date: Jan 6 10:51:31 2004
From: Bruce Whittington - fieldnat at pacificcoast.net


Hi all -
On the Victoria (BC) Christmas Bird Count, I was out with two friends
in my rigid hull inflatable, on a beautiful day, counting Rock
Sandpipers and Peregrines on the offshore islets. We were approached by
the RCMP in their very large and very black inflatable and questioned
about what we were doing. With a middle aged man and woman, and
in-his-eighties veteran birder Dave Stirling in the boat, they were not
too concerned and even got quite interested in what we were doing.
There is not much of a terrorist threat to the islands off Victoria,
but apparently a few days previously, a boat had been found offshore
with several hundred thousand dollars in it. Even in Canadian funds,
that makes the RCMP sit up and take notice. It makes me wonder if we
(the birding community) should make some approaches to the authorities,
to show them the equipment birders use, maybe explain some of the more
popular birding locations that might cause concerns, and advise them of
things like Christmas Bird Counts.

Bruce Whittington
Victoria, BC
mailto: fieldnat at pacificcoast.net