Hello all. I'm the birder quoted by Mike Hendrickson in the e-mail in question. I don't want to make a huge deal of this, as I'm sure most would rather get back to the birds being seen, but I felt I might need to respond.
I don't know Sparky, though we have mutual acquaintances and I respect his abilities and many of the points made in his post. He certainly has been in position to approach this issue from a few different perspectives. That said, I feel I need to respond to having my own behavior called unethical for yelling down the road. From my perspective, and we were perhaps 100 plus yards away, the bird was being baited with something placed on the road. It did not appear in either of the at least two passes I saw the bird make that it came up with anything edible. Now, my feeling was this had to stop and it needed to stop now. So I hollered down the road rather than run the 100 yards (which ain't happening at this point in my life) or drive down there. After, I did not leave. I remained there, and when the photographer drove up did mention why I was concerned. I did not raise my voice in doing so. I will admit I feel badly for the other two birders who were there if this damaged their experience in viewing the bird. Might I handle it differently next time? Well, yes I might. Sparky makes good points about being ambassadors. However I have been trained in my profession that one does not stand by when one witnesses unethical or improper behavior. I'll admit it. I'm not a fan of baiting raptors down to the road for any reason, even if the ensuing photos are used for educational purposes. Frankly, there are better ways to do it. I am not anti-photographer in any way. I know a lot of people who love to photograph birds, both professionally and for hobby. Most take great care, but yes, there are some whose behavior leaves a little to be desired. Even in those cases, I'm guessing the behavior is not malicious, but perhaps ill-thought out. For the most part though, I believe both birders and photographers are out there because they like birds and nature. Now the sightings....very good Sunday in the bog: -Great Gray Owl on McDavitt at the woodpecker site around 4:20 in the afternoon. -Black-backed woodpeckers (4) at the usual place. Thanks Dan Jackson for leading us into the woods. I hear folks found the American Three-Toed later in the day, but we struck out on it. -Two Magpies at the little horse farm on McDavitt just north of the Sax road. These flew off across the field to the east. -Boreal Chickadee and Gray Jays on Admiral Rd. -Scattered Pine Grosebeak, many Common Redpolls...but no crossbills. -Barrow's Goldeneye still present at Canal Park Monday morning. -Dave Williams Winona ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
