Curse you, Alfred Hitchcock!

The front page of Friday's Metro section in the Washington Post has a large 
photo of black vultures on a rooftop, with the headline "Ravaging a 
Neighborhood's Peace." The subhead is "Columbia Enclave Weighs Its 
Nonviolent Options." Makes you envision brave residents comforting their 
weeping families and stocking up on canned food and duct tape, doesn't it? 
After all, "ravage" means "cause extensive damage; devastate." Apparently 
this avian devastation consists primarily of stomping around, defecating on 
cars, and alarming the young and/or foolish by their very presence. The 
online version of the article, at http://tinyurl.com/8tf2l ,  tones down the 
headline to "Raptors Prey on Neighbors' Nerves," but retains the first 
sentence: "Ted Hart isn't too fond of the flesh-eating vultures that live on 
his roof."

The rest of the article is balanced and informative, and the drawings of 
vultures are nicely done. Unfortunately a lot of people are going to just 
glance at the photo and headline, which will reinforce their belief that 
there's something inherently threatening about a large gathering of 
vultures.

Howard County is full of awesome, dynamic birders. You'd better get to work 
on educating those wimps at the Washington Post.

Janet Millenson
Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)

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"Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot