Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 01:38:00 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joe Halloran Subject: Re: Snowy Owl situation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Would you repost your suggetions from last year? Joe Halloran jhalloran@flashcom.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Mumford" To: Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 6:29 PM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Snowy Owl situation > 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 > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================