Dear Mr. Workman and others, Thanks so much for the correction about eBird. Apparently I missed how to abbreviate the mapping stage of the questionnaire, and as I said I was not about to plot a threatened bird's nest in such detail. I certainly wouldn't like to spread misinformation about eBird, and I am eager to submit my data there.
Regarding disturbing or not disturbing nesting birds, it is unfortunate that the bitterns are still in need of documentation for that specific site. Or, are they? As the ABA's first principle of birding ethics states, "1(a) Support the protection of important bird habitat." In this case, the unfortunate minute-and-a-half disturbance of a nest of bitterns has changed the score of an entire Significant Coastal Fish and Wildlife Habitat (a SCFWH currently under review). Merely hypothesizing that the bird "probably" breeds in the Greenport North Bay is not enough to change its score. I wouldn't have thought a return visit to North Bay was required at all until I spoke with someone at the Columbia Land Conservancy. (The Conservancy manages the area for the property owner, the Open Space Institute.) I informed the Conservancy's Land Protection Management division that confirmation of nesting bitterns makes the North Bay eligible for inclusion in the DEC's Bird Conservation Area program. Indeed it is the clincher for BCA status, especially important since the City of Hudson intends new recreational uses for the very area of the bay in which I photographed that bittern nest. I was told by the Conservancy that even though the bittern nest I photographed was on North Bay, unfortunately it was just outside the preserve's boundary. I was dumbfounded. BCA status would apply to the entire marsh, including the property which the Conservancy manages, just as any of the several bittern nests waiting to be documented on Open Space property would qualify the whole of North Bay for BCA status. My news was curtly received and deemed insufficient for the Columbia Land Conservancy to become involved. For reasons that make no sense, I'll now have to find a nest in the right place. Working unaffiliated and on my own, my influence is severely limited. My emails to the Coastal Resources division of the Department of State about the bitterns have gone unanswered, and I have grave doubts whether I can get anyone else's attention at the DOS or the DEC. For major organization like the Conservancy or the Institute, perhaps it is as easy as picking up the phone. I am confident that with additional photo-documentation - and the very unfortunate but necessary disturbance of more nesting bitterns - the breeding colony of bitterns on this property will quickly secure the entire North Bay as a Bird Conservation Area. Our first ethical duty is to "support the protection of important bird habitat," but sometimes even land conservancies display inexplicable attitudes. Columbia Land Conservancy Executive Director - Peter Paden: (518) 392-5252, ext. 213 Open Space Institute's Albany Office - Joe Martens, Katie Stone: (518) 427-1564 I thank everyone for staying on top of this. Timothy O'Connor Hudson
