Good grief!
I would like to think that all birders and photographers would exercise
restraint and common sense when chasing birds that are not on public property.
It appears, based on your account that neither was applied here. Sorry for the
experience and please apologize to your family that this is not the norm.
A Happy and non invasive Thanksgiving to you and your family.
--------
"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of
others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~ Frederick
Douglass
風 Swift as the wind
林 Quiet as the forest
火 Conquer like the fire
山 Steady as the mountain
Sun Tzu The Art of War
> (\__/)
> (= '.'=)
> (") _ (")
> Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device!
Andrew Baksh
www.birdingdude.blogspot.com
>> On Nov 22, 2019, at 8:27 PM, Chase Cammarota <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>
>> Sorry to detract from the normally excellent bird information on this list
>> but, unfortunately, I have become compelled to share a recent situation that
>> happened at my house. Over the past weekend a group of birders found their
>> way to the back of my property. I awoke with my wife and children to begin
>> our day. I looked into my backyard and found people with scopes and
>> binoculars peering over my back fence towards my house and windows. My
>> family and I feel violated.
>>
>> My children and wife should not have to worry about people with optics
>> looking into our backyard and windows. I came to find out that my neighbor
>> used ebird (for their first time ever) to report a bird and they did not
>> disclose their address on ebird with their observation. We have speculated
>> that these really hard core expert bird watchers must have done a "google"
>> search on the name to locate the address and then trampled around the
>> adjacent public parcel the next morning to locate their quarry. Why do
>> something like this? Is it really an enjoyable bird observation? Will my
>> neighbor ever use ebird again after this first experience?
>>
>> While I am not sure exactly what transpired, ebird is supposed to be a data
>> source for science and if I or somebody in my neighborhood submit
>> observations it is not an invitation to conduct a search and surveillance on
>> a private residence. I am appalled that bird watchers would believe this to
>> be acceptable behavior.
>>
>> Further, they photographed or digi-scoped portions of my house and posted it
>> on ebird. What other photos could they have from that morning? Probably
>> nothing, but it is not enjoyable to think about the potential.
>>
>> This is on the verge of criminal behavior in my opinion. It invades my
>> family's reasonable expectation of privacy. These ace birders may need to
>> be trained on how to use ebird in a mature and science driven manner. Or
>> maybe ebird should have obligatory training for its users about who has
>> access to data that is submitted and what people may potentially / actually
>> do with it.
>>
>> Again, sorry to detract from the otherwise good bird info being shared here.
>> I needed to notify the people involved to let them know that their
>> behavior was intrusive and unwelcome; I was only able to speak to one of the
>> individuals face to face. I these people are likely to monitor this list
>> and get my message given their adept use of the Internet.
>
> Chase Cammarota
> Babylon
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