I've been a birder most of my life and a photographer for about 1/2. The one thing that has really bothered me about the Snowy irruption this year is the stereotyping of all photographers and hearing comments like "brotherhood of the big lens", etc.. It has not been my experience that the photographer's that spend a lot of money on camo clothing and camera cover's, as well as lenses capable of shooting at over 150 yards would try to get within 100' of a snowy owl perched on a regular-basis. Not saying it doesn't happen, but to stereotype all?long-lens?photographer's making an effort to stay a reasonable distance from the subject to me is not the correct thing to do, some photographer' are more than cautious about their interaction with these birds -for myself I have not entered the Snowy Owl fray but after reading some of these comments it has made me leery of even going to a Snowy Owl haven with my big lens. Illustrating my point, the one rare bird that was reported at a local area (Lazuli) this summer we sought out and found, with no one else present at first. While shooting for just a few minutes, behind brush and well-out of visual sight of the bird a couple with binoculars showed up and start's walking right up to the birds and pressuring them. We left at that point and went down the trail. Coming back 45 minutes later we found the couple still pressuring the birds at close range and just as we were walking by the birds finally lifted off and left the area -never to be seen again this summer in that area. Food for thought, remember we all care about these birds and irresponsible people can happen anytime, anywhere and don't necessarily belong do a specific "group".

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?Darrel DeNune
?Maple Valley
?boomerdenune at aol.com