Points are well taken here.

I would like to add that my husband and I are relatively new to birding, and
some of the proper and most considerate ways of viewing birds are not as
obvious as they might seem. It's been very helpful for us to see these
issues discussed on Tweeters. In fact, I would greatly appreciate seeing
more specific information about this topic.



I also agree that providing this information through various media is a good
strategy. But I don't think it needs to be framed as an admonition or a
crackdown. I'll wager that most people would prefer to do the right thing
for wildlife if they know what the right thing is.

Thanks,

Tina Blade

Kirkland, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Paulson
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 7:21 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: ethics



It just dawned on me when reading Martha Jordan's plea for ethics that
probably no one who she saw walking out in the fields was a birder. Every
time I've been up there there and the geese are near the roads, many people
stop to view them, and I suspect almost anyone who drives by such a
situation does so. They often leave their cars to get photos, and in fact a
few weeks ago Netta and I were sitting in our car photographing calmly
grazing geese at almost pointblank range, and a whole carload of people got
out and just walked right between our car and the geese, scaring them up and
away. They had tiny point-and-shoot cameras, which of course would be fine
to get the spectacle, if not the individual geese.



So Martha, it may be that none of the people you saw will read your
admonition on tweeters. I only point this out because the admonition needs
to be spread wider. How, I don't know. Local papers? Radio stations?
BirdNote? And then I have the thought that if we crack down on such people,
we're discouraging their appreciation of nature, different as it is from
ours, and we all know how much we need to reach out to "the rest of them."



Just a few thoughts about a complex issue.



Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382