Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 13:36:43 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: William Leigh Subject: Re: Fw: [de-birds] Open season on Horsheshoe Crabs - and birders? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I too have had experiences where individuals became verbally aggressive when they realize I am a birder. Once when birding near the border of the Shenandoah N Park a man actually got out of his car which was sort of party wagon as there were 3 or 4 guys drinking ........anyway he got out the car picked up a rock and threw it at a Prairee Warbler that I and two friends were looking at. (It was a life bird for my two friends.) Then he drove off cursing and yelling at us. About 5 minutes later they had turned around were comming back towards us. I became concerned at that point and decided it was time to leave immediately. Interesting choice of words "part of a war" etc etc. It seems everything in this > country is turning into a "war" and there seems to be only 2 choices in > each of these so called "wars" ........... who side are on you is the only > question that gets asked in these so called "Wars" "either you are with us > or you are against us". I lay the responsibilty for this sort of mentality > firmly in the laps of those who have promoted this simplistic view of the > world for political leverage and power. > > So I guess we need to excersize a certain amount of caution but on the > otherhand I think we also need to actually stand up to these sorts of > people by championing conservation causes and adverstising as much as > possible the economic benifits of catering to birders etc etc > etc........... I frequently wear my bins into to resturants and such as way > of letting folks know why I am there > > William leigh Leightern@aol.com > > > Just got this. Thought it would be of interest to MDOsprey. On our trip, > we witnessed the transfer of HC into containers at the Mispillion Light as > we reported. But we had no trouble like these people. > > Ben and Ruth Poscover > Towson MD > bposcove@bcpl.net > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > To: > Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 4:15 PM > Subject: [de-birds] Open season on Horsheshoe Crabs - and birders? > > > >I experienced a disturbing act of intimidation the other day and felt I > >needed to warn other birders. > > > >I stopped in at Mispillion Light with Eric Molho, a birder visiting from > >Albany on Monday May 19. After we had been there a few minutes we were > >approached by an individual who wanted to know if we had permission to be > >there. It turns out that we were 6 - 8 feet onto private property. A thick > >layer of rain and tide washed mud had obscured any potential boundaries. > We > >apologized for trespassing and moved back 8 feet. > > > >The individual then told us we were not welcome there. Apparently he is a > >horseshoe crab harvester. We were inadvertantly stepping upon his > neighbor's > >mud - his neighbor was out in the river harvesting crabs. "Since we are > >having a hard time making a living", he told us, "some of the bad feelings > >are going to be spread around." I told him that I had nothing to do with > any > >horseshoe crab regulations, and I was only here to watch the birds. "It > >doesn't matter", he said. "If you have a tripod and a long lens, you are > part > >of the war." > > > >At this point, he was standing very close behind us while we peered > through > >our telescopes. It quickly became clear that the smartest move would be to > >leave. As we packed up our tripods he told us that birders were disturbing > >the crabs, not fisherman. He started to rant about all the rules he needed > to > >follow, in terms of when he was allowed to harvest, set up a dock, and > launch > >a boat. I told him that it would be nice if the birds and the fisherman > could > >co-exist. "Not likely" was his response. He was standing in between me and > my > >car at this point, and there was no motion to move aside. I circled around > >the car to the far side, and we left. > > > >I hope people don't feel that I am creating an unnecessary controversy, > but > >the harsh rhetoric and obvious intimidation maneuvers have induced me to > warn > >others. If you bird there, I would exercise appropriate caution. It would > >seem that one individual is "at war" with us. > > > >Jim Lenhard > >Hockessin, DE > > > >PS. The best bird we had time to view was a horned grebe, in spectacular > full > >breeding plumage. It had it's "ears" prominently raised. The red knot > numbers > >seemed low, easily less than 100. > > > > > > ======================================================================= > 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================