This is a good dialogue on a very important topic. Thank you, Bill,
for your informative discussion of this . I don't know which is more
disturbing , the disregard for owls' welfare or the ego- driven
animosity that surfaces too often among birders . As a person who has
loved and studied owls all my life, I can tell you that many birders
want to see owls so much, they will do almost anything to make that
happen. The bottom line which we all must remember is that the birds'
well-being is ALWAYS more important than our lists or selfish desires
-- no exceptions, no excuses, no 'it wont matter just this once '
justifications.
James Gibson
Silver Spring
On 2/6/13, jflowers <artsnimages...> wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 5, 2013 10:00:24 PM UTC-5, Bill Hubick wrote:
>> All,
>>
>> I received a highly troubling report today that a known
>> Long-eared Owl roost site has been seriously disturbed. It appears
>> someone has cut branches from the roost tree to allow for better
>> photography. The cuts were fresh, only on the roost tree, and clearly
>> not part of a larger park maintenance effort. At least one of the
>> branches cut was described as being nearly the width of the observer's
>> arm.
>> Horrible.
>>
>>
>> The topic of sensitive species has received some recent discussion,
>> with the more vocal parties being on the "why is information being
>> suppressed?" side. Unfortunately, unacceptable events like this one have
>> happened many times before. It is the significantly increased risk of
>> events like this that makes open discussion of sensitive species so
>> dangerous. In most cases, it's not a problem if
>> a few more respectful people observe from a distance. However, as
>> traffic increases, the likelihood of poor behavior drastically
>> increases. One could argue that education is the key ("don't keep it
>> secret | tell people how to behave"), but people who do something like
>> this aren't just lacking mentoring. The changes in the communication of
>> bird sightings in the last five years can hardly be overstated. We have a
>> primary list-serve at record-setting membership that is supplemented by
>> many new members. We have a Maryland Facebook page attracting many new
>> and enthusiastic people. We are also one of the states with the most
>> comprehensive eBird buy-in in the country. And eBird, of course, has
>> fundamentally changed how we share our sightings, with the various
>> hourly "needs" alerts that are so popular certainly factoring in heavily
>> in these cases. These are all very good things, and I actively
>> support all of them. The wider net is a great thing and is not
>> going away. That said, these technological changes certainly have a lot
>> to do
>> with the increased attention these Long-eared Owls have received.
>> Balancing transparency and sensitivity is going to remain a challenge,
>> and self-policing what is shared, when, and how needs to be further
>> considered.
>>
>>
>> This list-serve just yesterday amended its guidelines to explicitly
>> state that locations for Long-eared Owls are not allowed. I am a
>> Maryland eBird reviewer and I personally lean toward hiding all specific
>> locations for LEOW there as well. However, I must discus that opinion
>> as part of a team and with input from corporate eBird. This is far from a
>> black-and-white issue. The "we can't protect it if we don't know it's
>> there" argument is sound. But how do you balance that with "we know
>> we're not protecting them when we're sawing @#$#*% branches off their
>> roost trees"? So as a reviewer, I assure you we will revisit this topic.
>> In the mean time, remember that eBird is a
>> public communication tool like this list-serve. You can make decisions
>> to use the "hide" functionality, to report such species at the county
>> level, and so on. More importantly, you can encourage others to do the
>> same. Whatever suggestions you make, please do so politely. There have
>> been some barbs thrown recently that were unwarranted. This list-serve
>> wants productive discussion of such topics, but will cut off any threads
>> that turn into flame wars.
>>
>>
>> Our growth as a nature study community only matters if we find ways to
>> harness it for good things. Let's find ways to do so.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> Bill Hubick
>> Pasadena, Maryland
>> <bill_......>
>> http://www.billhubick.com
>> http://www.marylandbiodiversity.com
>
>
> This is truly annoying Bill! However, are you sure it was a photographer
> that did this? It might and does make sense, but pinning that on a
> photographer unless knowing this for sure might be jumping the gun a bit. No
> matter who the culprit was he or she needs to be educated as to the
> sensitivity of this species.
>
> My concern for your diagnoses is that there is already enough animosity
> between birders and photographers as it is. I say this with concern as I am
> both a birder and an avian photographer and I have witnessed rudeness and
> bad behavior by both birders and photographers more than I care to admit.
>
> I remember several occasions last year sitting in my car on a little but
> well known road in western Maryland with a camera and 800mm lens on a bean
> bag in my window while a few large groups of birders were stomping down the
> breeding habitat of Golden-winged Warblers. I was so angry you could have
> fried an egg with my breath.
>
> But I will say that I'm sorry that someone wanted a look or a photograph of
> this species without any concern for it. There is no excuse for that! We
> needd to better police our fellow birders and photographers.
>
> JIm
>
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