It is not the fault of the listserv monitors. This is not a moderated listserv. It is entirely the fault of those who are not behaving properly. Also reporting exact locations of owls was discouraged, bit not prohibited as I recall.
Here is what I think should be done if you come across birders or photographers who are behaving badly. Politely (and I stress politely) explain to them how they are disturbing the bird and ask them to give them some space. A confrontational attitude will usually only elicit a confrontational attitude back. If they refuse, well, there are people who just can't be trained so then just leave. If they are actually harassing an owl then call the sheriff and give the details including license plate numbers. It would be sad if birds of any kind would not be reported just because there are a few bad apples. Rick Hoyme -----Original Message----- From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael Hendrickson Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2012 8:51 PM To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: [mou-net] Saw Whet Owl Thread Back in November of 2011 I posted an email asking MOU listserv members to not post owl locations because it will lure to many people and also put the owl at risk by overly aggressive people with cameras. I was called out be some on the listserv for being selfish and mean because I was asking birders to not share owl locations on the listserv. Now I see a Saw Whet Owl was reported giving exact locations to view the roosting Saw Whet Owl on the MOU-Net and of course and I was not surprised by reading reports that crowds of birders and photographers came and harassed the owl while it was roosting. Well I guess all I can say is "I TOLD YOU SO" !!!! Other than blaming the birders & photographers for their lack of respect for wildlife I think we can also point the finger at the MOU listserv moderators for not regulating the listserv because this posting should of been removed because I was led to believe that bird nesting locations and owl roost locations were not permitted on the MOU-Net listserv. There is no mention of this on the general information page about the listserv on the MOU website but then again maybe the MOU is accepting owl roost locations and bird nesting locations on the listserv these days? This is one of many reasons I do not share my posts on the listserv any more because the MOU is getting pretty sloppy. Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota MikeHendricksonGuiding.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 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
