Subject: [Tweeters] Owls, Malheur, Birders and the American Flag
Date: Jan 19 20:05:52 2016
From: Paul Baerny - pbaerny at gmail.com


It would be a shame to lose a birder like Micheal Charest to tweeters
because of the ethics poli?e. I've found his posts very informative. The
few times that I have come across him birding have always been enjoyable
and insightful.
For me, the great thing about being a lister is the people I meet and
places I see along the way. I think I read once that it not about the
number of birds you see, but the journey.
Also, if I remember right? The Long-eared Owl found dead last year near
Port Susan was not one of the pair from Eide Rd. It was determined to be a
immature Owl that died from malnutrition. Apparently it is quite common for
young raptors to not survive their first winter. But I wouldn't want the
facts to get in way of a good story!
Paul Baerny
Kent Wa.
On Jan 19, 2016 9:14 AM, "Mike Charest" <mcharest at wamail.net> wrote:

> Because people like this have taken over tweeters, I will be unsubscribing.
>
> Tweeters has become less and less useful over the years, there are much
> better ways to get the information I need to persue the hobby that I enjoy
> without having to sift through the holier than thou rants from the ethics
> police. I used to love to read reports from others who like birding and
> being outside as much as I do, I loved reports from areas that I had never
> visited, pulling up maps and exploring new spots, it was great fun. Now I
> see barely any actual birding reports and it has become like the comments
> section on yahoo.
>
> I have better things to do than judge others on how they persue their
> hobbies.
>
> I will be out disturbing birds with my binoculars on my lunch break
> today, and perhaps even really disturbing them with my camera after work
> today. I will continue to do so.
>
> Bite me,
>
> Michael Charest
> Tacoma, Washington
> Mcharest at wamail.net
>
>
>
> Sent from my phone. Please ignore bad or non-existent punctuation, bad
> grammar, and spelling errors.
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Mickey Pilatti <mickeypilatticb at gmail.com>
> Date: 01/18/2016 10:08 PM (GMT-08:00)
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [Tweeters] Owls, Malheur, Birders and the American Flag
>
> First it?s a tragic loss that the Hawk Owl was killed. If the landowner
> did it, hopefully he will be prosecuted. Good comments from JoAnn Andrews,
> Roger Moyer, Jason Hernandez, Bob Pearson, Barbara Deihl etc
>
> Reality is there is a possibility that the birding community could have
> ?contributed? to irritation by the land owner and that led to the bird
> being killed. This isn?t the first time that rare birds in the owl and
> raptor categories have been affected by birders. There was the Caracara and
> the landowner there and that bird disappearing (but hopefully safely).
> There was the Long-eared Owl found dead after being overwhelmed by birders
> (perhaps stress contributed to that death, who knows, but maybe it would
> have survived with less impacts). There was a Burrowing Owl surrounded by
> birders in Everett I believe. There were all the incidents of birders and
> photographers getting to close to the Snowy Owls at Boundary Bay and I
> think Ocean Shores too.
>
> Why ? often to get a bird on their damn list. Why ? often to get some
> closer or different angle picture. Yeah a person has a right to view and
> photograph a bird on a public road (I saw the American flag waving from
> those comments).
>
> Tweeters is good to share reports of birds, but is it the best for all
> birds and all cases? Cases that come to mind are when there are issues with
> landowners and the safety of the bird and birders could be jeopardized and
> when birds are on private land and the landowner doesn?t want the public to
> access that land. As we all know, Owls are disappearing and are a sensitive
> species ? maybe Owls shouldn?t be ?advertised? based on numerous incidents
> that have adversely affected them. The same is true with some rare raptors
> and of course with other birds active in nesting.
>
> For some reason, there is this need to get birds on these meaningless
> lists, like the lists have some super value. No one cares about your list,
> probably not even those people important in your life. When you?re gone,
> all your list will be is paper to recycle. It?s good to enjoy birds and
> birding but no one really cares if it?s the Xth bird on your list. My point
> is there are some birders that will do anything to get a new bird on their
> list. Maybe some sensitive birds shouldn?t have their exact location
> spelled out. If it has to be on a list, maybe it should just be listed for
> the entire county.
>
> Then there is the thing that for some reason birders have to announce it
> to the world that they have seen this rare sensitive bird. Maybe some bird
> reports of sensitive birds should just be kept quiet. But some birders seem
> to have to report no matter what whether it is for self-glory or to return
> the favor to a fellow bird buddy. For me some of the most rewarding birds I
> have seen are the ones I find myself. Anyone can chase birds and it doesn?t
> take a lot of skills to see a bird already found (yeah sometimes you have
> to refind them)
>
> On comment about how long birders hung around. I don?t believe the poster
> meant specifically an individual birder, but perhaps the accumulative time
> of multiple birders perhaps impacting the bird or irritating the landowner.
> If the first birder would have just kept the bird to himself, maybe it
> would have survived.
>
> As far as the comments on blame and shame, maybe there is some. We don?t
> really know for sure, but Im willing to bet the birding community has
> created at least some negative impacts on some birds in some cases just so
> that someone can get it on their damn list or a photo. Even if you have a
> high number of birds seen on a list, there are many birders way better than
> you. Even though you have a good photo, there are thousands of photos
> already of most species. What matters is what a person does for the current
> survival and future survival of our birds. They are the true birders ?
> others are just listers and photographers. If all we have are lists and
> photos and our grandkids get to see primarily house sparrows, starlings and
> Eurasian collared Doves.
>
> If a landowner is irrational or a threat to bird or doesn?t want you there
> ? maybe its better to stop going there, stop reporting it and change the
> location in reports
>
> Was there trespass? Did people still take pictures? Did someone say
> something to the landowner that irritated him? Who knows, perhaps,
> possibly, maybe/maybe not, but some birders aren?t always the supreme nice
> beings that some posts seem to think they are
>
> On the comment about that we are civilized, well yes and no, if we were so
> civilized the birds wouldn?t be disappearing and planet environment being
> destroyed
>
> On the comment about that there shouldn?t be comments on the Malheur.
> Wildlife refuges are some of the gems of remaining bird habitat, without
> them things like tweeters will eventually disappear as well as our birds
>
> My point and my opinion is birds first, lists and photos are secondary and
> maybe the reporting of some rare sensitive species need to be reduced,
> maybe its better to just try to find a rare bird yourself. But I doubt this
> will happen, too many are on a self power trip of birding and Im betting
> there will be another future report in tweeters about some other demise of
> another sensitive specie. Just my opinion and Im guessing many disagree
>
> Mickey Pilatti
> Olympia WA
>
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