Hey Shawn,
like a lot of activities, it only takes one or 2 bad apples to cause 99% of the problems.
But these 1 or 2 folks are doing things so aggregious, that the spill-over is hitting those of you that are not.
it is the same principle as 1 jerk hunter poaching a Grizzley bear, or shooting ducks out of season, or taking more than his limit, ruining the reputation of all hunters.? 99% of them are law abiding and help conservation efforts.
And? if a group can not police itself, the rest of us affected by the behaviour start screeching.
?
The sign on Damon Point was put up to help inform, not enforce.? It may help alleviate ignorant disturbances to the birds, but will certainly not stop folks who do not care.
?
As for whether flushing owls effects their survival or not, the jury is still out.? No studies I know of have been definative. Intuitively, if an owl is not doing well, and it has to burn excess energy flying away, it has less chance of survival.? If it IS doing well, and has plenty of food, it would be fine.?? The question is, how do WE tell the difference?? And what is the threshold??? If an owl hunts all night and does not make a kill, then gets chased all day by a continuous procession of people getting too close and causing it to fly and burn much needed energy, does that lower its chances??? Certainly.?? How can we tell?? We can't, really.?? And one person disturbing an owl is probably not a problem.? But the 8th time that owl is disturbed by the end of the day??
?
?And consider that these birds are surviving down here until the spring, when they have to fly that 3000 miles back to the tundra.? They are trying to lay on reserves so they can do that.? So what if they are harrassed, and not able to lay in those reserves??? They could be fine while they are here, then drop dead on the way back north.?? We would never know.? This is actually simnilar to the problem facing Red Knots on the east coast, and Deleware Bay.? They do not die there, but they can not lay on enough fat to make it north to their breeding grounds and just do not show up, having died along the way.
?
In the face of not knowing for sure, some of us are choosing the err on the side of caution, and try very hard not to let our desires to get a close look, or the perfect picture, to potentially cause harm to these visitors from the far north.? Others have chosen otherwise.? Some are just un-informed about such issues.
?
The extremes of both sides of this issue get the most attention, of course.? The photgapher running after an owl and repeatedly fushing it and harrassing it is definitely a worst case, and paints all photographers with a negative light.? Those of us that do have strong feelings about helping preserve these owls, get upset and start yelling.

How we each respond to such events says more about ourselves, than about the owls ....

Guy McWethy
Renton, WA
mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com


________________________________
From: Shawn McCully <shawn at jacobsonlegal.com>
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Wednesday, February 8, 2012 7:46 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Photographer Maddness?


I have endured the barrage of crazy tweeters emails from people spending countless hours blasting photographers on here for months now.? People are creating signs, asking for restrictions, and now a program you have to sign up for when you buy a big lens...lol.? I don?t know if it?s jealousy or otherwise, but there is clearly a divide amongst birders who photograph and those that just observe.? However, I?m not sure if this divide is real.? I?ve been out photographing birds and have never been commented at by any birder that what I was doing was wrong in some way.? Do these people wait to get home and then vent, after thinking about it for a while, on the computer at an audience that they think will better receive their anti photographer comments?? Don?t you have anything better to do?? Do you know birds are actually killed by mis-identification from hunters, from combines harvesting wheat, etc.? Would your time be better spent focusing
on these issues?? I won?t make excuses for some of the behavior that goes on but I ask you to put it in perspective.? Did any owl at Boundary Bay die from a photographers conduct yet?? There is zero evidence that I?ve seen that making an owl open their eyes by waving hands at them can or does kill them.? This is an unusual year where there are lots of owls, people, and they are packed in a small area.? Just put it in perspective this is a small segment of snowy owl populations and, despite whatever conduct they have endured, none have been injured.? Do we keep restricting where people go, what they can do, and curtail things in life until we can?t do anything?? Can you put the eruption of snowy owls in perspective before blasting on a public listserve?

Again, the only issues I saw when I visited the site was from a couple of point and shoot photographers that had to get close and continually flushed the owls.? All the ?big lens? guys were staying at decent distances.? Even then, I didn?t say anything because I don?t really care.? So they flushed a few owls, big deal.? They just glided 100 yards and perched up again, uninjured.? They just flew 3000 miles but they can?t glide 100 yards?? Maybe you should focus on the small lens or point and shoot crowd...? Maybe if you have a point and shoot camera you need to sign up on a program to know how to use them ethically?? Do you get the sarcasm?

Shawn M
Bellevue, WA
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