Ditto from me. Thank you to all that help especially David. Sent from my iPhone
> On Jan 5, 2019, at 8:18 AM, edith goren <edithgore...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thanks again to you and David Barrett and all who post any where and with > such frequency. > I too have been told as I bird or walk with binoculars questions about what > I’ve seen by strangers and often offer my binoculars and tell novice birders > of available bird walks or organizations, or good locations to go to. I have > been asked not to reveal locations of Owls, but people are inquisitive if it > looks like I’m attentive to a spot. ( this has made me uncomfortable with the > ethics of Owl protection) not that I often spots Owls. I feel this is the > best way to promote and enhance environmental protection ethics and laws, > and to protect the areas of park reserved for passive recreation. I feel Gus’ > promotion of informative signage is essential and aids birders to reinforce > ethics. I do not support suppression of information and creates a caste > system of birders. Respectfully, Edith Goren > > E.G. > >> On Jan 4, 2019, at 8:48 PM, Gus Keri <gusk...@zoho.com> wrote: >> >> It seems there is a campaign against David Barrett’s twitter accounts, >> especially the Manhattan Bird alert, trying to discredit him and encouraging >> people to stay away from his account. I find this campaign totally unfair to >> David. >> >> In a recent internet article, the author mentioned 4 reasons for boycott the >> alert. I will talk about each one separately. >> >> 1- “Started advertising T-Shirts.” >> To the best of my knowledge, all the non-rare-bird-related tweets are added >> after sunset, so it would not bother birders, most of whom turn off the >> alert notification at night anyway. He also posts photos and videos of birds >> after sunset for the same reason. >> What is wrong with promoting T-shirt that has a photo of a bird on a birding >> site? It has to be a good idea to raise awareness for the world of birds >> anyhow. >> Beside, I read in one of the tweets that for each T-shirt sold, the seller >> offers few dollars as a donation to one of the birding organization. This is >> a good deed. >> >> 2- “Promoted commercial Owl Walks that point flashlights at owls and uses >> excessive audio playback.” >> The ethics of bird watching is very controversial and the birding community >> is deeply divided over these issues. I am not going to discuss them here. >> But to criticize David for promoting Birding Bob’s walks seems unreasonable >> to me. >> Birding Bob is responsible for most of the rare birds alert on Manhattan >> Bird Alert, especially the tweets about owls in the last couple of months. >> On some days, I only read his tweets about rare birds and none else. >> He goes on birding walks almost every day and finds things himself. He >> doesn’t need Manhattan Bird alert more than Manhattan bird alert needs him. >> I have never gone on any of Bob’s walks and my encounters with him last only >> for few seconds where we exchange Hello’s only. We never talk birding >> politics. But I heard a lot from other birders about his walks and they do >> appreciate what he offers the birding community. >> >> 3- “Reported owls with exact locations, which resulted in the over birding >> of some owls, especially a specific Northern Saw-whet Owl. David's >> guidelines say post about any bird including all owls.” >> Another controversial issue and it happened that I disagree strongly with >> it. I believe the birding experts (including eBird experts) had this policy >> wrong. I believe every birder have the right to see owls. Our focus should >> not be focused on hiding the location. It should be on educating the public >> on the proper viewing protocol. >> When rare or vagrant bird appears anywhere, the birding experts list the >> exact location and remind each other of the protocol. It has happened last >> few days with the Golden-crowned Sparrow and last year with the Great Gray >> Owl. >> It seems the experts would do all they can to get on rare birds they have >> not seen before even if it means to do things slightly different from what >> the code of ethics stated. >> Well, those new birders who have never seen any owl are like the experts who >> have never seen a Great Gray owl or Golden-crowned Sparrow. The birding >> community should help them get on those owls and educate them how to view >> them. This is a double standard in my opinion. >> >> 4- “Promoted the feeding of ducks on The Pond.” >> This is another example of where education went wrong. >> Many people (non-birders) love to feed birds in the park but they are not >> aware of the danger of giving birds the wrong food. These people will >> continue to do so regardless of what the birding community thinks of them. >> When I see a post in the park saying “don’t feed ducks” I laugh, because I >> know people will not follow such order. >> The park department came up with a smarter idea. They started putting post >> on what the proper food to feed ducks and other birds, so people can enjoy >> feeding birds without hurting them. This is a great idea. >> Manhattan Bird alert simply did that. It is the smart way. >> >> Finally, none of these reasons are valid one to declare war on any of >> David’s twitter accounts. I believe these accounts are the best thing that >> happened to NYC area birders in a long time. And the fact that the numbers >> of followers to each account keep rising is an indication of their >> importance to the birding community. >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> NYSbirds-L List Info: >> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm >> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm >> 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 >> >> Please submit your observations to eBird: >> http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ >> >> -- >> > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm > 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
