Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 06:02:47 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Frantz Subject: Re: Proxemics and Snowy Owls MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 12/18/00 1:10:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, LeighTern@AOL.COM writes: << What occurs to me is that it is not really in the best interest of the Owl to be habituated to close proximity to people...it just seems to me the Owl would be better off having some fear of humans...I am wondering if by taking advantage of the situation and viewing the Owl from extremly close distances (like from below the very pole the bird is perched we are reinforcing the idea that humans are not a threat. Besides with toadies Scopes and Bins one can see this bird very well from more reasonable distances...there are always some kids and even adults who would not think twice of shooting this bird.. >> Agreed! Another disturbing aspect of this let's-get-a-closer-look mentality is the continuing tendency of some birders to trespass on private property. Hasn't this issue already been discussed many times on MDOSPREY? Early yesterday afternoon before the owl arrived and in spite of being told they could use my scope, three birders tramped into the middle of one of the muddy fields. Upon their return to the roadside, two of them gleefully reported that they got really close looks of the Horned Larks. Incidentally, we met a local guy who first saw the Snowy sometime around Nov 22. What a magnificent bird! Gail Frantz Reisterstown, MD guineabird@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================