Date: 2/8/13 4:29 pm
From: Mark Johnson <mj3151...>
Subject: Re: [MDBirding] The Soldiers Delight Problem


I don't think peole have really thought this issue through very thoroughly.
Situations like this tend to shut down peoples' left brains and the
resultant by-products are a lot of hand wringing and finger pointing. Have
you considered that the owls probably wouldn't even have selected that spot
to roost if not for BGE? It's not by coincidence that owls and raptors roost
and build their nests along the edges of wood lots that interface with open
fields...it's where they make their living. They like to set up shop in an
area that will provide shelter, but be close to their hunting grounds. Power
line cuts that are created and maintained by these utilities provide ideal
habitat for these guys. If the open area were allowed to return to dense
woodland, the edge that's so attractive to these birds wouln't exist and the
birds would go elsewhere. Long-eared Owls aren't an endanged species. There
are lots of them and they have a very broad range globally. They're just
really good at hiding from people. We call them a "sensitive species", but
it's really a misnomer. They're not as sensitive as the people who churn
their intestines into knots trying to protect them. The difference between
us and the owls is that we have a conscience and actually feel compassion
for them, sometimes more than is warranted, some would say. We worry about
them more than they worry about, say, a vole that they're in the process of
skull-crushing for breakfast. We focus on these situations when they present
themselves, because they so infrequently present themselves. Every year
thousands of these situations happen daily, out of our view, while utilities
like BGE go through their routine pruning activities. It's anybody's guess
how many owls are potentially or actually disturbed in the process, but they
seem to manage to get by in spite of the commotion.

I love nature, and even a few of the people who are, undeniably, part of it.
In my perfect world, people would just take a deep breath and think for a
few moments before they organize a lynch mob for some hapless photogropher
or BGE-contracted tree trimmer.

Mark Johnson
Aberdeen


----- Original Message -----
From: <altomomatic...>
To: "MDBirding" <mdbirding...>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 5:06 PM
Subject: [MDBirding] The Soldiers Delight Problem


I'm puzzled. Many subscribers to this list were full of sound and fury over
a report of an owl roost tree being disturbed -- presumably by a
photographer, but then fell silent when the actual culprit was identified.
That actual culprit being an ineffective DNR and an over-zealous utility.

Of the two -- photographer versus a state agency and a utility -- isn't the
fact of the latters' actions far more disturbing? (I think so.) And what
should we do about it? Must the sound and fury elicited by the original
report of a disturbance signify nothing? I would hope that DNR and BGE be
held responsible for their lack of effective communication.

This is a recurring problem and it's not going away.

Tom Stock, frequent visitor to Soldiers Delight
Silver Spring, Md.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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