Actually, the onus is on all of us. Many birders are photographers, and
I'd be willing to bet MOST (if not all) of the photographers that are
currently harassing the snowies (and other rarities) are already birders,
if a bit extreme in their behaviour. So, because the average non-wildlife
joe photographer isn't going to shoot a snowy simply because he has
equipment (UNLESS he's motivated in some fashion), the suggestion that WOS,
Audubon, etc, get involved is an excellent one, and eventually much more
important.

Perhaps each of these organizations can sponsor a location "ranger"/docent
to help those who don't know or understand the ethics? Kirkland started a
local park ranger program umpteen years ago in an effort to further educate
the masses about what was being seen in the local parks; I don't see a
reason why Audubon/WOS couldn't do something similar for when rarities
happen... A badge and/or vest, and a cell phone programmed for local
officials in DFG/etc, could go a long way towards keeping these problems to
a minimum...

00 caren
http://www.ParkGallery.org
george davis creek, north fork


On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 12:38, Wilson Cady <gorgebirds at juno.com> wrote:

> I agree that education is a key component of protecting birds and habitat
> but the onus should be on the photographers to "police" their own group to
> lessen the growing divide between birders and photographers.
>
>
> Wilson Cady
> Skamania County, WA
>
>
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: "Rob Sandelin" <nwnature1 at gmail.com>
> To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and photography education activism
> Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2012 12:10:11 -0800
>
> **
> Seems most likely that WOS or Audubon, both whom have good representation
> on this list might want to take on on-site rare bird disturbance
> education, whether it be docents, or handouts or signage. This is an on
> going, recurring issue that either of the above organizations, or perhaps
> some other, could organize actual action with instead of email sniping and
> bitching which accomplishes nothing. If the goal is to protect birds from
> unreasonable disturbance, on-site with the birds is where to do it. The
> growth in both photography and birding makes disturbance almost a
> certainty. Taking some ownership doing some on site work would be good for
> the birds, and also for the organization involved.
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
> Snohomish County
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20120209/3ab7b811/attachment.htm