My sincere apologies if I appeared to besmirch the scruples of
falconers. I am not familiar with the falconer associations and never
intended to imply anything about them. I thought I made it clear I
was referring to hypothetical individuals, not falconers in general.
Sorry for not being clearer.

I was simply repeating concerns that were expressed to me by those
who were guarding the location of the Northgate Merlins, and I took
those concerns at face value. As far as not publicly disclosing the
location of any rare bird nest, that is birding etiquette that I have
come across elsewhere. I may even have read it in the Tweeters
guidelines, but could not find those guidelines (can anyone steer me to them?).

Again, apologies for any offense; it was never intended as such.

Marc Hoffman
Kirkland, WA

At 08:53 AM 7/23/2008, you wrote:

>Hi Tweets,
>
>This isn't actually a response to the request (sorry, John), just a
>reminder that information such as the location of a rare bird nest
>should not be disclosed on the list, but shared only in private (if
>at all). In general, this would be to protect them from too much
>disruptive attention. In the case of fledgling Merlins, there is also
>a very real risk of some dishonest falconer attempting to trap a
>fledgling Merlin for personal use or for trade.
>
>Marc Hoffman
>Kirkland, WA
>tweeters "at" dartfrogmedia "dot" com