Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 18:04:51 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norm Saunders Subject: A Few Thoughtless Birders MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Les Roslund, down in Talbot County, was kind enough last week to let us know about a Sandhill Crane being seen on Hooper's Island. He posted directions to the bird but even more importantly he posted a few small restrictions that the property owners had asked be obeyed--namely, parking in the road and walking up the drive only to see the bird. Apparently over the past weekend a small crowd of folks showed up to see the crane. Most were well-behaved. A few, unfortunately, were not. I'll let Les post more detailed information on how these few birders abused the hospitality of the landowners. Suffice it to say that we don't often get these kinds of complaints about Maryland birders. On the whole they are well-behaved thoughtful people. When I hear of incidents such as those that occurred this past weekend on Hooper's Island though, I wonder if I'm doing the right thing by hosting a discussion list like MDOsprey. I think we all need to examine our behavior when it comes to chasing a less common species. Yes, one's state list is great to brag about, but not if we antagonize non-birders with irresponsible behavior. Perhaps all of us need to sit back and reflect on whether or not we are doing the best we can to adhere to good birding ethics. I hope a repeat of last weekend isn't forthcoming. We're working to identify as many of the offenders as possible (there were a number of very observant neighbors taking notes). If any of them are subscribers to MDOsprey, they won't be for long after I find out who they are. Best, Norm ======================Norm Saunders Colesville, MD marshhawk@worldnet.att.net ========================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ========================================================================== ==========================================================================