Thank you, John, for your support in all of this, like you I normally do not like to get involved in these sort of things. I am one of those who sent hateful "snarly" emails to Mr.Phillips. As someone who feels it is a gift to be able to walk the trails of the Nature Conservacy at Stissing Mountain or any of the wonderful trails in the Hudson Valley, and perhaps see an eagle or other birds of interest, I was simply aghast that someone would endanger the eagles (if not themselves) by such selfish actions.
Andrew, I am a photographer AND a birder, and I always try to adhere to the Birder's Code of Ethics as do most birder/photographers I know. Since Mr. Phillips opts to chastise/label me, I will post verbatim the "hate-mail" I sent, the "snarly" private email to Mr. Phillips, you be the judge. I don't think I was being unreasonable. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I am a "local" of Stissing Mtn and have been a "fan" of your blog. I am no means a purist but have the need to privately, instead of an obnoxious public note, point out to you that in realizing YOUR dream to photograph the Golden Eagles you selfishly invaded the space of the eagles. The local farmer no longer tolerates trespassers who disturb the eagles' environment - you had to notice the barbed wire and "No Trespassing" signs as you crossed from conservacy land into the fallow cornfield? I've been told that he did that to protect the eagles' habitat, The Goldens and Bald Eagles come to Stissing Mountain because it is safe from folks like you and me, it is wild and forgotten land - the fields and ridge are off limits to us (there are nesting bald eagles on the ridge as well). Looking at your image, the eagle most certainly was aware of you. I just hope more folks do not follow your lead in their quest to photograph the Goldens." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I received a curt response from Mr. Phillips in essense telling me to mind my own business and investigate the hunting preseve; well, folks, the birding habitat of Dutchess county is my business and not a playground for someone to act out their childhood Arthurian fantasies. I do hope that in the spirit of his disclaimer posted on ebirdnyc that he at least show some responsibility and remove specific location information so others of like mind(lessness) do not imitate his actions in the future. Deb Tracy-Kral Stanfordville NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
