Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 12:01:20 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Denise Ryan Subject: Re: Glaucous, Thayer's Gulls etc. in DC, 2/19 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Well, hoping to head out on my own this weekend to check out those = gulls, I called the Headquarters of the NPS National Capital Region. I = was directed to the Parks Program office (202-619-7225) and asked them = in depth about tripods for spotting scopes. I told them about the Park = Police encounters and they assured me that if it was for recreational = purposes that using a tripod was fine. A few years ago when I worked at the Dept. of the Interior, the tripod = issue was a permit issue to monitor commercial photographers and = filmers. Good luck! Maybe armed with this information we will have a chance to = talk to defend our recreational pursuits. Denise Ryan Washington, DC -----Original Message----- From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM] On = Behalf Of Joel Martin Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 8:13 AM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Glaucous, Thayer's Gulls etc. in DC, 2/19 . . . a Park Police came along and said we needed a permit to use a = camera with tripod on park property -- he didn't seem to understand the = difference between cameras and telescopes. He was perfectly nice, as = were we, but we moved on rather annoyed. (I do seem to recall this rule = regarding cameras -- anyone else ever run into this problem?) Gail, It's my understanding that the issue is the tripod and not the camera = (or scope). When I was doing video production with my community college, = we did some shoots in the House office building. We were told that there = were areas in DC where you couldn't use a tripod without a permit, the = idea being that it could be used to attach a weapon. Joel Martin Catonsville, MD jcdlmartin@aol.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com = with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey = =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================