Burt and Tweeters,

It appears to me that you did not read the entire newspaper article on
"speed birding", to which the link was provided by "carenp".
I did read the article, and printed it out. As far as I can
tell, the activity described as "speed birding" is identical, or
nearly identical, to the Big Day that many of us have done at one time
or another.

The 3 birders described in the article DID NOT commit any illegal or
unethical acts, so far as I can tell. They simply mentioned that they
had heard of other "speed birders" who had done so. So have many of
us.

Your rant appears to be a response just to the brief quotes provided
by "carenp". Please do not insult those of us who DID read the entire
article by stating that we cannot read English!

I think this is just another example of something we have often seen
on Tweeters (but not as often now as formerly)-- an overreaction to
incomplete information.

Burt, I enjoy many of your rants, and I agree with your position on
most of them. However, in this case, I think your criticisms were
misdirected. What we should be condemning is not "speed birding", but
harassment of birds and damage to their habitat in the chase (which
although rare, does happen).

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net




----- Original Message -----
From: Guttman, Burt <GuttmanB at evergreen.edu>
To: tweets <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] speed-birding


A few people have written to me to condemn my condemnation of
speed-birding, as described in the message (below) from carenp. Some
of them seem to think I'm condemning the "Big Day" activity. I have
always assumed the subscribers to Tweeters are able to read the
English language, though with the decline in education generally in
America perhaps I can no longer make that assumption. Those of you
who are able to read, or who would like to learn to read better, might
go back and look at my message to see that I never mentioned the term
"Big Day." In fact, the Big Day is a very old birding tradition.
Roger Tory Peterson wrote about it in 1948, noting that has also been
called the "Lethal Tour," "Century Run," or "Grim Grind." I can't
imagine how anyone reading my message could interpret it to be a
condemnation of this activity!!

However, "speed-birding," as described here, is a violation--not only
of birding practices as defined by the ABA and other responsible
groups--but of human decency and of environmental laws. You folks who
like speed may tear down the highway as fast as you please, but if in
your zeal to add birds to your list you perform a single act that
harasses or harms a single bird, or if you do violence to their
surroundings in any way, you are nothing but a criminal, and the
birding community ought to turn you in to the authorities, condemn
your actions utterly, and do everything possible to ensure that this
kind of activity is stopped. If you are insulted by these words,
Good!! If you think this activity is somehow warranted by your desire
for more excitement, you are wrong! If you want excitement, go
skydiving or snorkeling with sharks or join the Army. But if you want
to go birding, do it within the limits of decent, ethical human
behavior. And--for those of you who still have trouble reading--the
Big Day falls within those limits when done to conform with establish
rules.

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503