Luckily, Natalie and I haven't encountered too much borish birder
behavior in our time in the field, but I think the reason we haven't is
that we tend to bird in non-traditional areas and to by-and-large avoid
the rush to see the hot bird of the week. In the rare instance when we
have chased a hot bird, such as the Great Black-backed Gull in Renton
last weekend, we were pleasantly surprised to find most of those
patiently filtering through the wealth of gulls were being helpful toward
each other and making an effort to let curious passers by know why a
horde of scope-toting bird addicts had descended on their favorite park
or workout grounds.

I agree that it is best to carefully and politely let birders know if
their behavior is a danger to the public, such as stopping in the middle
of a lane of traffic, or that it poses a risk to the birds or sensitive
habitat. Many people simply might not know that they are doing the wrong
thing. But the best way to avoid the borish birder behavior altogether is
to try birding in places that don't draw hundreds of birders on a given
weekend.

On the idea of birding being a non-consumptive pastime, I think that is a
mistaken idea, unless of course you arrive at most of your birding
destinations by public transportation or bicycle. Birding can have a huge
impact on the environment simply because of the number of miles we all
drive in order to reach far-flung birding sites. And that impact can be
exacerbated by those who traipse across sensitive habitat to get a
slightly better look at a bird or to get a little better photograph.

One thing that we try to keep in mind when we are out in the field is
that, like it or not, by pulling out the spotting scope and scrutinizing
the surroundings we call attention to ourselves, and in public places
such as parks we end up serving as ambassadors for the birding community
in general. With that in mind, we try to talk with those who are curious
and to offer a glimpse through the scope and just be friendly so that
more people are exposed to the joys of bird watching.

Happy birding!

--
Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
Co-author of BIrding Washington (coming later this year from Falcon
Publishing)
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html