Hello Tweeters. It appears my posting on pheasant hunting stirred up a bit of controversy. My apologies. I usually refrain from mentioning my hunting experiences when in the company of birders. But the experiences with the Gyrfalcon I've had I thought would be interesting to birders since it is a highly sought after bird in our community.

I spent a few months in Australia a while back. The anti-gun law in Australia a strong and hunting is an uncommon
sport. There are however approximately 2000 professional hunters who are
contracted by the government who collectively harvest 10 million red
and grey kangaroo a year to maintain the population at 20 million. And
that is just the tip of the iceberg of their environmental problems.
Wild pigs, feral cats, introduced birds and reptiles are out of control
and the government doesn't have the funds to deal with it. They have fire ants now.

While there I quickly got in with the birding community to increase my life list as quickly as possible (440+ species in 10 weeks-my cassowary confrontation is the highlight of all my birdwatching experiences). It seems ironic, but most of the birders I met (all non-hunters) are advocates for a large hunting community in their homeland. They see the U.S. as a success story in conservation, whereby the hunters and all the related associates pay for about 80% for all conservation. And many (like myself) consider Teddy Roosevelt a saint.


I would like to continue posting my observations while hunting. Many of
my wildlife experiences would have been missed by just passively bird
watching: Harbor seals doubling as retrievers; a young harrier feasting on teal; eagles stealing your salmon; kittiwakes robbing bait; and how about a parasitic jaeger taking a crippled dove in Quincy, WA!

Thanks

Andy Papadatos
Snohomish, WA