[obol] "Bad apples" & catbirds

From: Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
To: Oregon Birders OnLine <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 16:11:41 -0700
Russ & all,

Birders or photographers who use playback or otherwise disrupt nesting
birds in sensitive situations are not necessarily "bad apples."

This is commonly done by relatively new birders who just get excited by
a new device or a new trick that helps them to see more birds than they
have seen before. 

Probably most of us "old-timers" or "middling-old-timers" on OBOL have
gone through that stage at some point in our birding life. I've done
that kind of thing myself (for example when I first discovered pygmy-owl
imitations), before it occurred to me that there are some situations in
which these techniques could be harmful. 

My purpose is bringing up the status of the catbirds at HMSC as a reason
for exercising some restraint was aimed at birders who are going through
that stage, and just have not yet given much thought to the possibility
of birding impacts. 

Certainly there are going to be a few crusty folks who are determined to
go birding however they damned well please, and will thumb their nose at
any mention of the ABA code of ethics. There's not much we can do about
those folks. Fortunately their numbers are fairly small, so this limits
their impacts.

I'm much more hopeful about reaching newer birders who use OBOL as a
source of information on where to find uncommon birds. With the
confirmation of nesting catbirds at HMSC, it seemed likely that these
birds could draw the attention of large numbers of folks who are
relatively new to birding, and who might even get the idea (from recent
postings) that further documentation of these birds is needed.

Indeed, with the growing push for "citizen science," we might be
reaching the point where most incidents of disturbance by overzealous
birders stem not so much from a "selfish" desire to pad personal lists,
as from an earnest hope that individual observations will somehow
contribute to "science."

Good birding,
Joel

--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis




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[obol] "Bad apples" & catbirds

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