Hi Don,

With all due respect, your last post has some overriding logical
flaws that wrongly impugn banders and researchers.

>all banders and researchers will not report any death caused by
>netting or banding.

You cannot logically generalize about "all banders and researchers"
in this way. Although I do not have direct evidence (yet), I would be
flabbergasted if there is not a single report, anywhere, by a
researcher documenting a banding- or netting-related death associated
with his or her work. And if even one such report exists, your
generalization is invalidated.

>If a bird is banded and never seen again, then it has to be that the
>bird died because of being banded and it cannot be disputed because
>there is no evidence to the contrary.... And that is an absolute fact!

Birds disappear and/or die for all sorts of reasons. Since wearing a
leg band does not protect a bird from predators, window strikes,
disease, or any other cause of death, it is reasonable to assume that
some missing banded birds have died due to one of these other causes.

It certainly is logical to suggest that if a banded bird dies as a
result of netting or banding, but is never seen again, then we can't
add that event to a list of deaths caused by netting of banding. But
it is invalid to flip the argument around, as you have done, and
assume that any unseen death must have been caused by netting or banding.

As others have stated, this discussion needs to be about the relative
benefits and risks associated with banding, netting, and other avian
research. We simply don't have the evidence to consider it a
black-and-white issue.

Marc Hoffman
Kirkland, WA
tweeters "at" dartfrogmedia "dot" com
www.SongbirdPhoto.com



At 10:13 AM 4/6/2012, Don Wallace wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>
>I have gotten a good number of responses to my post, and I would
>like to keep getting more.
>The responses have been on both side of the fence. Those that have
>been for banding birds mostly say that there is no harm to the birds.
>
>My response to that is: all banders and researchers will not report
>any death caused by netting or banding.
>
>If a bird is banded and never seen again, then it has to be that the
>bird died because of being banded and it cannot be disputed because
>there is no evidence to the contrary. So if every person that bands
>a bird can account for all the birds where a bouts, then they should
>do so, otherwise those missing birds have died because of being
>banded, only the lucky survive. And that is an absolute fact!
>
>I was sent a link to a website where one person has banded 50
>dippers, but can only account for one. 49 died just to watch one
>grow old. How fortunate is that?
>
>Keep the comments coming, I would like to hear from everyone.
>
>Don
>don at e-picturebookdesigners.com_______________________________________________
>Tweeters mailing list
>Tweeters at u.washington.edu
>http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters