Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 18:29:20 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bob Mumford Subject: Re: Snowy Owl situation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I made my eleventh trip to Oland Road to view/photograph the Snowy Owl this PM and it turned out to be the day when the situation there came to a head. It is not a pretty picture. We birders have worn out our welcome, if there ever was one there in the first place, and the situation now can be termed a crisis. I encountered Brian Crawford, who lives in the newish home at 5955 Oland Road, at his mailbox. I introduced myself and reached out to shake hands and he refused. I asked permission to enter his land to photograph the owl and was greeted with a very high level of anger and hostility. He told me that people have been regularly trespassing and someone broke a fence. He said his family has been continually bothered. Needless to say I did not get permission. His father lives in the larger house at 5901 Oland and apparently is every bit as angry. Sometime later, the police arrived, having been called my Brian. Nothing untoward was happening at this point, nor had anything happened while I was there. The policeman said that someone had been behind Brian's house where the owl was sitting on the ground. He, the policeman, said he wished that he could send the owl back up to the arctic. He ordered all cars to be completely off the road and stated emphatically that no more warnings will be given. Anyone parking on the road from now on will be ticketed. He also said anyone parking or walking on the south side of the road, where the Crawfords live, will be cited for trespassing and taken to court. The Crawfords are going to press charges. He told us to take scopes completely off the road. I made contact previously and befriended the tenant farmer on the north side of Oland Road. He has given permission to birders to park their cars on the dirt on his property. I would suggest that everyone abide by the below guidelines and ensure that out-of- town birders do also: 1. Park completely off the road only on the north side of Oland Road. It is muddy and snowy, but that is the price. 2. Do not stop, pause or park on the south side of Oland Road. This suggests approaching the owl area from Route 85, not New Design Road, in other words from East to West. 3. Do not set up scopes on the road or on the south shoulder. It is fine to set up scopes on the north shoulder, i.e., on the dirt. 4. Do not turn around in either of the Crawford's driveways. You may just be shot; they appear to be that angry. 5. Regardless of where the owl is, do not aim scopes in a way that appears to be looking in the Crawford's windows. We will be lucky if this bird is not shot by the Crawfords or people who are equally offended by all the visitors, which are viewed by many (but not all) locals, as intruders. This is another situation where breast-beating, finger-pointing and exhortations now are insufficient. Prevention was the key, as it was on Hoopers Island last summer. I suggested an approach when a rare bird is found on private property and posted this on August 7 on MDOSPREY. It received virtually no response or interest. It is sad to realize that if the suggestions offered then had been followed in early December with the Snowy, we might well not be in the situation we are now. Bob Mumford Darnestown. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================