It is a small world. I got a call yesterday from a friend who is a General
Supervisor at the Renton Boeing plant who indicated that a number of senior
employees had expressed concern at a staff meeting about the number of
people with cameras and "telephoto lenses" and binoculars scanning the plant
from both Gene Coulon Park and the Cedar River mouth. He called me because
many years ago I used to run part of the plant and was also known as "the
bird guy" who would ID birds for people and deal with bird problems in (and
on) the buildings (he knew the people were birders and harmless and asked if
I could alert "the community"). There have also been a number of people
"lost" trying to enter the interior Boeing lots and gates in the last 2-3
weeks.

Please use care when birding these spots. Boeing Security is usually very
kind and helpful, but if this becomes a problem the TSA (commercial
airplanes are delivered to customers from the airport), or even Homeland
Security or the FBI could come into the picture.

Some basics:

Don't point cameras or spotting scopes (which can appear to be telephotos)
at the buildings.
Don't even consider trying to enter Boeing Property or trespassing at the
airport (this includes someone who tried to walk the rip-rap along the
waterfront last week).
Pay attention to what is going on around you - an ounce of prevention....
Make sure you kindly remind others of this slightly unusual situation.

I hate this as I feel it is an inappropriate reaction to a harmless
situation - but it is what it is.

Cheers! and good luck finding the Slaty Backed Gull and Palm Warbler

Rob Conway
Newcastle and Preston, WA

robin_birder at hotmail.com

PS - I got the "bird guy" moniker in 1997 or 1998 when someone opened their
Renton area aviary and such treats as a Hoopoe, Scarlet Ibis (a Peregrine
victim!), and Crowned Cranes suddenly showed up in Renton for about a week
before disappearing or being recaptured.



>From: "Eric Huston" <amdipper at hotmail.com>
>To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: [Tweeters] Slaty-backed Gull continues in Renton
>Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:03:07 -0500
>
>All,
>I observed the Slaty-backed Gull in Renton at about 3 pm today, Jan. 29.
>It was not actually by the water at the rivermouth, but perched on the
>south end of the Boeing factory roof along with a small contingent of
>"Olympic" Gulls. I was able to view it from the first parking area that
>you reach along the road into the park, near the playground.
>NOTE FOR OTHERS PLANNING TO LOOK FOR IT: While viewing the Slaty-backed
>through my scope, I was approached by a man from Boeing Security. He was
>responding to a call about a person with a camera pointed at the building.
>I explained that I did not have a camera, and was only using a spotting
>scope, which does not allow me to record images. He explained that they do
>not allow people to take pictures of the building, but since I did not have
>a camera, he allowed me to continue looking at the bird. So for those of
>you who like to take pictures of rare birds, you may want to keep your
>cameras put away while viewing gulls perched on the building.
>
>Eric Huston
>Olympia
>
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