Hi Bill,
I do not think we have met and I have not met many MD birders until last year when I became more active in birding after a long break, so let me first introduce myself to the MD birding community. My family and I have lived in Arlington VA for about six years, and I am very close to DC via Chain Bridge. I began birding about 25 years ago while in college in San Diego. I have been a member of ABA for many years, and while I am not currently a member I very much respect and embrace the ABA principles of birding ethics.
Next, and most importantly, I need to make a public apology to Ross Geredian and Anne Arundel Bird Club. In responding to Ross on his post of Sensitive Species and eBird, I was rude toward Ross and AABC and I sincerely apologize. I think you are referring to me in your post above: �There have been some barbs thrown recently that were unwarranted.� You are right, it was unwarranted and bad manners on my part. I am sorry, and will avoid any such barbs in the future; I hope my apology can help dilute some of the discord and rancor I may have contributed towards this discussion.
I am glad that the amended posting guidelines for mdbirding email group do not preclude reporting all species of owls. I know that birders like to share information and they generally want to share what they have seen with other birders. Sharing information makes birding more fun and meaningful, but it also has other benefits which I believe indirectly affect avian conservation in a net positive way. Imagine a hypothetical world where there are no birders at all. In such a world, who would notice that a particular species is declining, and who besides a handful of scientists would even care about birds?
I was in NE Minnesota last week viewing Boreal Owls and other owls and birds where I met many local and out of state birders. In general, birders went out of their way to help me find the owls and other birds like Spruce Grouse and BB Woodpecker, and I witnessed zero birding ethics problems. Several people in Minn make their living though paid guiding service, and these same people are the most generous with their information mainly via frequent updates to MOU-NET listserv. I would not have traveled to Duluth if I did not happen upon the reports of Boreal Owl in eBird and MOU-NET. My presence helped their economy a little and I feel certain that the many birders that viewed Boreal Owl, N. Hawk Owl, Saw Whet Owl, Great Gray Owl, Snowy Owl, etc. have not affected the individual owls nor the owl population in any negative aspect. There are communities there that depend on revenue from ecotourism, and I claim that creates a need to protect the natural habitats in those areas.
Marshall, I think that the obscuring feature to eBird to prevent visitation of certain species in certain areas is a good tool for eBirders who do not want to share the exact location of a bird. The current means to do so results in loss of data integrity and also could have the side effect that a birder will spend time looking in the wrong area for a reported bird. I would like to offer a suggestion which you and the application developer staff may have probably already thought of. If a bird location has been purposely shifted or obscured, using a boolean flag to denote the this in the eBird API and the primary eBird search GUI would be helpful to alert an application developer and birder (respectively) that the sighting location is not where it appears on the map.
I am just one voice and one opinion which is that I trust my fellow birder and I do not think that the problem of disturbance as it relates to avian conservation is as severe a problem as the level of discussion would indicate. However, in 25 years of birding I did witness one particularly egregious birding ethics violation in Texas that involved trespassing and an extremely sensitive species -- Attwater Prairie Chicken. The result of this violation was the end of all public reports of APC at the last known wild-bird APC lek. This type of ethics abuse can have a permanent and significant effect on the ability of others to view a sensitive species or visit a particular birding site, and so while I am advocating balance in bird reporting guidelines as already mentioned by me and others, I am aware that a single ethics abuse could permanently scar the reputation of the birding community. I am also aware that there are some very strong opinions on the matter of birding ethics, and in the future I will tread lightly and know that there are many other viewpoints.
Sincerely,
David Flynt
Arlington, VA
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