I have been birding the Long Island barrier beaches for over 20 years. It is clear that human activity of all types has increased dramatically in that time. This of course leads to more disturbance of wildlife. There are many more photographers and birders now then there were back then, and information rapidly gets out to all. Of course there are some bad actors in every group. While I have occasionally posted publicly about owl locations, I will no longer. I think it is wise for all of us to refrain entirely from such posting. We will probably not eliminate disturbance, but we should not in any way contribute to it. This may be inconvenient for those respectful photographers and birders who would like to see an owl, but I believe is the best course. Here, again is ABA's Principles of Birding Ethics: http://www.aba.org/about/ethics.html
On Feb 5, 2012, at 9:03 PM, Phil Jeffrey wrote: > The photographers shown in Rob's video were not the only instances. > This photographer: > http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BqOGEhoql4A/Ty8zKetR49I/AAAAAAAABLo/NhfyRUrXTrE/s1600/BozoBirdPhotographer_W5G7596.jpg > was walking all over the dune area too in pursuit of the owls as of > 8:30am. One of the owls may have flushed as a result, although they > were also observed moving independently. I also have a photograph of > this guy's SUV and NY license plate. > > Birders need to understand that bird photographers are parasitic of > the sightings on this list (this particular photographer was aware of > the original NYSBirds-L post). > > Phil Jeffrey > > > On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 6:33 PM, Rob Jett <citybir...@earthlink.net> wrote: >> I really hate to have to post this note, but ... >> >> Today at Breezy Point two photographers decided to ignore common sense, >> birding ethics and clearly posted NPS signs to get close to the reported >> owls. They had walked a long distance into the protected dune habitat and >> stationed themselves close to the bird to take photos. I've uploaded a video >> of the two geniuses here: > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > Seth Ausubel Forest Hills, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
