Subject: [Tweeters] Nibbling Corvus corax
Date: Mar 18 08:35:01 2005
From: Bruce Whittington - fieldnat at pacificcoast.net


As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle ground. The percentage
of birders that behaves irresponsibly is very small. Still, every time
I get in my car to go birding, I wonder about my environmental
responsibility. Even worse that I'm fiscally bound to an old 2-stroke
outboard engine when I'm seabirding (and dutifully recording my
sightings for science). It's difficult to excuse the fossil fuel
consumption of long-distance "ticking" and Big Days, in the name of our
environmentally-conscious pastime. True, there are "Big Sits" (no
driving) and some Big Days are now conducted on foot or on bicycles or
public transit. The truth is that there is a line in there somewhere
across which we begin to be environmentally irresponsible. We need to
not lose sight of that line, and that's tricky, because it moves as we
travel from place to place, and through time. None of us, ever,
anywhere, can accept no blame for damage to our environment. But if we
apply the sort of passion we've seen in this discussion to protecting
the environment, that's a heck of a good start.

Yours from the Middle of the Road -

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