[nysbirds-l] bird disturbance and 'photographers'
rom destruction and encroachment. If the public at large don't know that amazing birds are living in a place, no-one's going to care when it gets paved over, and the best way to get them to care is if they see and experience the birds themselves. 'No Entry' signs and secretive, misanthropic birders are not welcoming to people at large, and do nothing for the cause of bird conservation. Anyone who's studied birds seriously soon learns that many birds rapidly become accustomed to the disturbance regimes in their habitats, so, for example, approaching a Red-tailed Hawk in Central Park on foot does not disturb it, because it's become habituated to New Yorkers on foot & has learned that they're not dangerous. Walk up to a Red-tail in certain farming areas, and the bird might get spooked and fly away, because the local humans often shoot at Red-tails. Similarly, certain birds get accustomed to extremely noisy, low-flying aircraft, but get disturbed by people approaching silently on foot. Disturbance is context-specific and species-specific (some species seem to be extremely sensitive to disturbance in all situations). We need to recognise this and not simply say that approaching at an owl anywhere, for any reason, is bad. Birds' behavior is often the best guide, rather than a set of abstract rules. If a bird is flying off when you approach it, you're probably disturbing it. If it chooses to nest above a busy sidewalk, then walking beneath it will probably not bother it. Some owls have no issues with people approaching them in a non-threatening way, like a pair of Spotted Eagle Owl I followed for years in Cape Town, has raised tens of young within a few yards of paths that carry hundreds of tourists a day in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. Google 'Spotted Eagle Owl Kirstenbosch' for some of the thousands of photos and videos of these birds that have been made over the years. In conclusion, I'd like to advocate for a policy of openness and engagement, and I'd like to give an example of a situation in which this has worked. Some years ago I was doing research in the Little Karoo, a part of South Africa famed for rare succulent plants that were worth large amounts of money to foreign collectors. Some of these plants were in danger of becoming extinct due to foreigners digging them up and smuggling them out of the country. Local conservationists had a long debate as to whether to stop talking about the area being home to certain rare plants, or to publicize the plants and the threats to them. After seeing that silence wasn't stopping the illegal activity, it was decided to try publicity -- as a result, local people started to care about the plants, creating responsible tourist opportunities to see them but also looking out for unknown characters wandering about suspiciously where they were known to occur. As a result of some sharp-eyed locals speaking up, the local police for the first time apprehended plant smugglers -- including a well-known professor of botany from a prestigious Japanese university -- who were tried in court and found guilty of illegally removing protected species. Obviously, in places where one cannot build up a community of engaged local people who care about wildlife, publicity might not be the way to go. But in NYC there are abundant opportunities for doing this -- I'd far rather see locals that walk the beach at Breezy Point with their dogs see, know and care about the local owls, than not know about them because of some 'veil of silence' drawn across the issue by some self-appointed birding 'royals'. I think unethical/clueless birders and photographers would be far less likely to walk in the sensitive dune area and mob an owl if locals and other birders talked to them and the owls were seen as a special thing for the area to celebrate and protect. That's more than 2c on the topic. I hope to hear considered responses. Cheers Adam Welz ** NOTE ** When posting an earlier version of this email on ebirdsnyc, Phil Jeffrey barred me from 'his' list and publicly threatened to close the whole thing down, after which we engaged in a salty/rude email exchange -- just because of my brief criticism. I offered to sit down over a beer to sort things out, but he's chosen to call me 'delusional', while reminding me of his superior intelligence and 71 published academic papers. I obviously hit a nerve, which I take as an indication of the importance of this conversation.If you're going to post pictures of other birders on the net along with accusations regarding their behavior, I think you should be prepared to have your own behavior examined on the net. If you're also going to put yourself out as some sort of authority on birding, as Phil has through his blog and mentions in the NYTimes b
Re: [nysbirds-l] yard birds incl. Swainson's Thrush
On that note, this morning I had in my tiny, long-way-away-from-a-park, Bed-Stuy backyard - Swainson's Thrush - Magnolia Warbler - American Redstart - Tennessee Warbler - Blackpoll Warbler - Black-throated Green Warbler - adult Traill's-type flycatcher Incredible! Cheers Adam Welz From: Andrew Block To: NYS Birds Sent: Sunday, 25 September 2011, 17:56 Subject: [nysbirds-l] yard birds incl. Swainson's Thrush Had a nice selection of migrants at the bird bath today. They included a Swainson's Thrush (possible new yard bird), m & f American Redstarts, female Common Yellowthroat, female Magnolia Warbler, plus the usual birds. Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist/Wildlife Biologist 37 Tanglewylde Avenue Bronxville, Westchester Co., New York 10708-3131 Phone: 914-337-1229; Fax: 914-771-8036 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- 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/ --
Re: [nysbirds-l] Gray-headed Gull feather moult
Some feather parasites can eat pinhole-like holes in bird feathers. Adam From: julian hough To: & [NYSBIRDS] Sent: Sunday, 31 July 2011, 12:56 Subject: [nysbirds-l] Gray-headed Gull feather moult I haven't had chance to upload any of my shots of this bird after we saw it yesterday, when it was picked up by Harry (last name?) But, I did notice, like Shai, that it seemed to be moulting and presumbaly into adult winter. I am not sure if it means anything, but the tips of the primaries are rather frayed and seem to have "pinholes" in them. I am not sure what the cause of these small holes would be, but they look strange; also the tips of the tail are rather heavily frayed. The secondaries on one wing also look as though they are shorter and are perhaps growing in? It would be interesting to hear from others with experience how this bird's plumage fits in with moult cycles of Gray-headed and whether anything is out of sync with its feather wear. All in all, a surreal first time visit to Coney Island and watching this mega flying around beach-goers like a typical laugher! Julian Hough, New Haven, CT -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] some comments on Gray-hooded (Grey-headed) Gull
Just to add some comments: 1) I'm not at all a gull expert. I have, however, seen thousands of these. They're very common on the east coast of South Africa (where I'm from) and at certain inland sites. 2) I guess this bird may well be of the South American subspecies, in which case my further comments may be irrelevant. 3) This bird, judging by the birds I've seen in South Africa, may be in non-breeding plumage. It's certainly not in the brightest breeding plumage I've ever seen, which would include a more solidly gray head, brighter and more evenly red bill and legs, and a red eye-ring. It is, however, not a juvenile. 4) Grey-headed Gull is in South Africa a bird equally happy on the coast and hundreds of miles inshore. There are breeding colonies on wetlands around Johannesburg at an altitude of approx 6,000ft above sea level. So this Brooklyn bird could, in theory, move anywhere. 5) In the late 1980s we had a Franklin's Gull pitch up in a Grey-headed Gull breeding colony in a small wetland called Rolfe's Pan in an industrial area near Johannesburg, the first record for South Africa. It tried to pair up with Grey-headed, but none of the locals was interested. It then disappeared at the end of the breeding season, only to reappear the next, and I think the next, breeding seasons. The theory was that the bird had been displaced eastward across the Atlantic and was making north-south migrations/movements in synchrony with the movements of Franklin's in the New World. So, maybe this gull is in a Laughing Gull colony somewhere, trying to find a mate? ;) 6) In recent years Franklin's Gull has become a more-or-less annual 'vagrant' sighting around Cape Town - I've seen single birds with a big group of Hartlaub's Gull that sleeps on a lit area of lawn near my house on more than one occasion. They seem to hang out with Hartlaub's Gull, a species roughly their size, rather than larger gulls. Cheers Adam -- Adam Welz Brooklyn, 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/ --
Re: [nysbirds-l] hummer at feeder - RE tone on this network
Dear Rick I find your tone patronizing and discouraging to birders who might have recently found something that is interesting to them and may want to share it with this community. With all the threats that birds face they need all the friends they can get, and attitudes like the one you have just displayed turn vast numbers of people off birding and getting involved in conservation. The subject line was clear, and you could simply have deleted the mail if you didn't want to read it rather than post this unfriendly response that makes you - and Linda - come across as a sad old grouches with nothing better to do than inflict your bad day on the rest of us. Your email radiates insecurity and an attendant need to be rude that is very unappealing. I think an apology to Andrew and to the rest of us who had to read your email is in order. Yours in birding Adam Welz PS: Andrew, some of us know that seemingly trivial observations of unusual behavior by common birds are often the gateways to understanding changes in ecosystems, and can be significant when noted and integrated into larger databases. Did you submit your hummer observation to eBird? From: Rick & Linda Kedenburg To: Andrew Block Cc: NYS Birds Sent: Sat, 11 June, 2011 10:06:47 Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] hummer at feeder We don't find this interesting or unusual. Linda & I have feeders here on the North Fork of LI and get breeding RT Hummingbirds every year that nest nearby. We also get them at our feeders in Vermont. If you have seen a rarity I would be interested in seeing it in my INBOX. There are many breeding RT Hummingbirds throughout the State of NY and New England. Thank you Andrew but let's maintain a brevity by limiting our reporting to facts that are interesting to us all. Regards, Rick On Jun 10, 2011, at 7:10 PM, Andrew Block wrote: For the second time in three days I had a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird join the male Baltimore Oriole and catbirds at the feeders. I was very surprised since they don't breed around where I live and they should've been through by now. I guess it's just a late migrant north. Pretty neat. Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist/Wildlife Biologist 37 Tanglewylde Avenue Bronxville, Westchester Co., New York 10708-3131 Phone: 914-337-1229; Fax: 914-771-8036 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- Rick & Linda Kedenburg kedenb...@optonline.net -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] share a ride to Great Adirondack Birding Celebration June 3?
Hi All Is anyone on this list driving up from the New York City area to this fun birding event? http://www.adirondacklakes.com/recreation/birding/great-adirondack-birding-celebration.html I'm presenting a film and a workshop, so need to be up there by the afternoon of Friday June 3. If anyone has a car and would like a driving companion/person to share gas cost, please contact me asap off-list. Cheers! Adam Welz -- Brooklyn, 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] warblers Prospect Park
Hi All Others will no doubt provide more detailed reports later, but we had Prothonotary Warbler around the Terrace Bridge and Hooded Warbler on Lookout Hill this morning. If you're thinking of going into Prospect this afternoon, there are some good birds about! Cheers Adam Welz -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
