Two things to add to the mix: 1) As far as I understand, for all wildlife, when you force them to run/fly away, they have to use energy that that wouldn’t have had to use otherwise. This is more problematic at certain times of year, such as the end of winter, when they’ve nearly depleted their fat stores (like when a dog chases a deer, for example). For birds, I’m guessing this is less about the season and more about the food source/weather issues of the last few days since they don’t really have fat stores unless they’re migrating. This isn’t something we normally take into account when we’re birding, so maybe this conversation is a good prompt to ask how we can step outside of our species and ask how we nature-lovers can be more empathetic to the daily challenges of the fauna we love.
2) Birds are used to the baseline disturbance - at Pella, that’s people walking/running/stopping (and sometimes dogs) along the path. Crawling along the bank is not within that baseline and is going to cause distress. Listening to the birds’ calls and the level of alert through the community is another way to gauge one’s impact. Noelle Nicholson Boulder, CO Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 2, 2022, at 22:43, SeEttaM <seet...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Too much "Whatabout-ism" being preached. It is ridiculous that some keep > making excuses for selfish persons who not only unnecessarily disturb some > poor bird that ask to be a rarity but interfere with others who are wanted to > see the bird also. Call out these selfish birders or photos, whichever they > are. > > SeEtta Moss > >> On Wed, Nov 2, 2022, 2:51 PM Kathleen Sullivan <ks...@indra.com> wrote: >> This morning at about 9:00 I was headed to Heron Pond to see the >> Yellow-crowned Night Heron and witnessed another incident of bad birder >> behavior. Two birders in the parking lot were just ahead of me and headed >> to the North shore. I was going at it from the south shore and I met an >> experienced birder who had just seen the bird (within the half hour) and >> gotten a photo and she volunteered to take me right where she had seen it. >> Then from across the pond we saw the two birders I had originally seen at >> the parking lot crawling down the bank almost to the shoreline right where >> the bird had been seen. >> >> >> >> We could not find it again with my scope and her good camera plus another >> man came up who had also seen it from that spot just before. We stood there >> for half an hour and the two were there for quite awhile but the heron did >> not show obviously driven into the reeds. Amazingly, some other people who >> did not appear to be birders but had a camera also crawled down the bank. >> >> >> >> Folks, we’ve got to get a handle on this. Please do not approach birds, >> play tape, or do anything that will disturb them. In addition if you see >> something, say something. Thank you. I assure you that if those birders >> were not on the other side of the pond, they would have gotten some feedback >> from me! Sorry for this long post but it’s important. >> >> >> >> Kathleen “Sully” Sullivan, CFO member, former Board member Boulder Audubon >> Chapter. >> >> Boulder, CO. >> >> >> >> Sent from Mail for Windows >> >> >> >> -- >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "Colorado Birds" group. >> To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en >> * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include >> bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate >> * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Colorado Birds" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/20221102204042.B542C41B97E8%40mta1.indra.com. > > -- > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en > * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include > bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate > * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAAUvckpbSLmhxiu3vwqwhTCrD1GPGKxwgNo6EHYScVFNbvsuTw%40mail.gmail.com. -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/ECC48AA3-54C9-4A5A-856A-F0B9189CE9F5%40gmail.com.
