Mark,

A very good perspective, thank you.  I'd like to add to it just a tiny bit.

Before I was born, and I suspect also you and many other Osprey readers,
Aldo Leopold wrote:

"The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism.  Only
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little is known about
it.  The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant:
"What good is it?"  If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every
part is good, whether we understand it or not.  If the biota, in the course
of eons has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a
fool would discard seemingly useless parts?  To keep every cog and wheel is
the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Science, including on occasion collecting a few organisms, is the process of
learning and seeking to understand.  We can not conserve what we don't
understand.  The Yellow-throated Warbler study is part of the process of
understanding our environment and its living pieces.  We all need to support
well reasoned good science so that we can better conserve the birds we love
in an ever challenging climate of population growth and environmental
change.

Dave Brinker
Catonsville, Maryland


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Hoffman" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 9:15 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Yellow-throated Warbler Breeding Locations


> Norm - As I think you know, I have both a BS and MS in biology/wildlife
> ecology.  I have collected a few specimens (in the name of science) as
well.
> Please don't hold it against me. In fact (don't read further if you are
> squeamish) much of ornithological science (and ultimately birding) is
build
> upon museum collections.  There have been many excellent articles on the
> need for collecting.  I won't try to repeat them here.
>
> Also, as part of my job, I supervise the permits coordinator for the DNR
> Wildlife and Heritage Service.  To collect this species requires both
> federal and state permits.  Permit applications are reviewed by our
science
> staff to ensure the activity is a legitimate scientific endeavor of merit
> and biologically sound.  Just go to the web and browse the issue of the
Auk,
> Condor or Wilson Bulletin and you'll get a taste of current ornithological
> research and the extent to which collecting is used/not used.  Many, if
not
> most, research does not require it, but some do.
>
> I think it needs to be kept in perspective that avian populations suffer
> very high mortality rates and killing a small number of individuals will
> have no impact on the population as a whole.  What we are trying to
conserve
> (through habitat conservation) is the population.  All the individuals are
> destined to be dead in a few short years.  In projects were territorial
> males are removed, they are soon replaced by "floaters", birds unable to
> obtain a quality territory.
>
> Yellow-throated Warbler is one of my favorite species, as it is common in
> Worcester County, arrives in late-March before almost all the other
> migrants, has a lovely song, breeds even on the pine forests of
Assateague,
> etc.  But it would not pain me to assist in this project if it contributes
> to our understanding of this species.  What we understand we want to save.
>
> Mark L Hoffman
> 
> Sykesville, MD