My two-cents on Mike Hendrickson's post about another birder's run-in with an
owl photographer.In full disclosure, I am a wildlife photographer, birder, bird
guide, MOU member and good friend of Mike's (for almost 25 years!). I make part
of my living from guiding, writing and bird photography. I have baited owls
with live mice and thawed dead mice. (E-mail me personally if you have a
problem with this)I totally agree that if the photographer in question really
was teasing the owl with a piece of brown fur on a string or some such thing,
then, yes, this would be unethical. Why? Because the owl is expending crucial
energy (that is important for surviving the winter) without getting any
nutrient (caloric) reward.I find the birder's response of "yelling at him to
knock it off" unethical. Go over and have a conversation with him. Nobody
responds well to being yelled at. Explain the caloric reward concept. Be a
birding ambassador. And let's face it; Most birders are also photographers.I
agree in principle with the above birder and Mike: IT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO
TEASE AN OWL WITH A NON-EDIBLE LUREBut let's look at this issue with a level
head.Baiting/Feeding Issue:During the owl invasion of 2004-2005 I fed and
photographed several owls with both wild-caught mice and Petco white mice.
Before doing this I checked with several owl researchers who had no problem
with this. In fact, they raise white mice themselves to feed to injured
raptors. Everyone benefits; The owl foremost gets a caloric reward (which can
be a life saver to a starving bird) and the photographer/birder gets a
memorable view of a rarely witnessed behavior. This was done on little traveled
side roads or in fields.By the way, these photos have been widely published and
no doubt have been of great educational and inspirational value to folks who
have never seen an owl, let alone a Great Gray, N Hawk Owl or Boreal Owl. Could
I have gotten all of them with patience and not feeding? Some? yes, All?
no.Should we quit feeding our backyard chickadees, redpolls etc because they
might hit our picture window and die?...Or because a N Shrike may be attracted
to the abnormal concentration of birds and target them? Because, yes, that's
what happens in our backyards nearly every day. But the greater good is that
many birds are helped (once again with caloric reward) and we get great and
selfish enjoyment from it.Disturbance Issue:Just two days ago I guided a group
of birders from southern Iowa in the Bog. Some had never seen a N Hawk Owl. We
watched the Sax-Rd bird from the road and didn't approach since we knew other
birders would want to see it. But we found another bird on Owl Avenue. Two
birders wanted a closer look. We waded through the deep snow to just under the
spruce it was perched in. Were we disturbing this bird? You wouldn't think so
from the behavior of the bird...it never even looked at us! I've seen 100s of
Hawk Owls and they are mostly oblivious to humans. Great Grays are a little
more skittish. Use common sense.Danger Issue:Sax Road sees about two cars per
hour. Many side roads see less than that. Let's get real. Yes, it would be a
bad thing to bait from the shoulder of a major, heavily-trafficked highway.
Owls aren't "conditioned" to feeding on roadsides since one person feeds one
bird once.Undue Pressure:Yes, if there was ONE Great Gray...or ONE Hawk Owl
that everyone was going to see, then any undue "harassment" would be UNETHICAL.
But when there are many owls around then this "disturbance" (which I don't
think it is) would be spread around.Roadside Issue:Baiting on the opposite side
of the road the owl is on would be irresponsible. Getting off the road and
feeding on the same side would be better. Nearly always, they grab prey and
return to the same perch or a nearby perch.Bottom Line:BIRDING ITSELF IS
BASICALLY A SELFISH ACT; PHOTOGRAPHY ITSELF IS BASICALLY A SELFISH ACT. The
birds do not benefit from us looking at them through binoculars or from
pointing a camera lens at them. But what we do with these experiences is what
can benefit birds: Most of us take our birding experiences/photographic images
and do something with them: We show others cool birds for the first time...We
teach kids about birds....We donate photos for interpretive signs...We feed the
birds themselves (whether it is suet, sunflower seeds, a deer carcass or Petco
mice)...We write educational articles...We join conservation clubs...We
volunteer at a nature center. These are the important things.Let the debate
begin!Sparky Stensaas 2515 Garthus Road Wrenshall, MN 55797 218.341.3350 cell
sparkystens...@hotmail.com
www.stoneridgepress.com
www.kollathstensaas.com
www.sparkyphotos.com
> Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:53:37 -0800> From: mlhendrick...@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [mou-net] Unethical Photographer at the bog> To:
> MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU> > Hello:> > I received a email from a Minnesota
> birder who reported this to me today "I birded the bog Sunday and had a
> run-in with a photographer who was> baiting the hawk owl at Sax road and cty
> 7. We were stopped along with> another car of birders when this guy in a
> truck with North Dakota platesstops about a hundred yards away. He's out
> monkey around picking stuff> up and putting something on the ground, and
> when he does the owl comes> streaking in full bore right at the guy. He
> must've been yanking the> bait away because it didn't look like the bird got
> anything. I yelled> at him to knock it off and he stopped. Later after I got
> in my car he> drove up and confronted the guys from the other car, so I got
> back out> to talk to him. His excuse was "well, the road is where they hunt>
> anyway." I told him no, he didn't need to condition the bird to the>
> roadside and if he was patient he'd get good shots anyway. Frustrating. "> >
> Here is another story of how a Northern Hawk Owl has apparently died this
> year due to over aggressive photographers:>
> http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0901b&L=birdchat&X=373893429F7451F5D2&Y=richditch%40earthlink.net&P=2632>
> > I been following several photography forums: Camera Talk Minnesota,
> Fishingminnesota.com, Naturephotographers.net and I can honestly say many
> photographers are using the MOU-listserv to look for owls and all other bird
> sightings and go after them for photos. Now bear in mind the majority of
> photographers are very ethical and then there are some who do not care one
> bit about anything other than getting the "money shot". Just like there are
> a ton of birders who follow the ABA guidelines for observing birds and then
> there's those who do not follow any ethical guidelines and gives the rest of
> us birders a bad name.> > Also I am not against photographers at all, its
> just the small minority of them like the guy from North Dakota who makes me
> very angry that they think this is ethical to tease a owl with prey to get a
> photo. I am sure most photographers would not support this type of strategy
> to get a photo of a owl. > > I ask any birder who visits Sax Zim Bog or if
> you see anyone teasing owls this winter in Minnesota to get their license
> numbers and report them to the DNR. If you have a camera take photos of
> them or take a video of them as proof of what they are doing is plain wrong!
> > > > > > > Mike Hendrickson> Duluth, Minnesota> Website:
> http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/> Blog:
> http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/> > > > > ----> Join or Leave
> mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net>
> Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html>
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