Dear all,First off, I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year.That
being said, I would like to, at this time, apologize to you for being a
pain in everyone's side in the past year.   However,  at the same time,
I feel that I was somewhat justified, because I feel that I was not exactly greeted
warmly when I arrived in Maryland in September of 2005.  I posted a
request for someone to join me in birding locally, and all I got was
one response, and that was from someone many miles from where I live. 
I know there are at least three members of MDOSprey that live near to where I live,
Kye Jenkins, Debbie Terry, and a person living in Towson, whose name
escapes me (Steve Sanford?), yet none of these people responded to my request for a
local birding partner.A few years ago, I almost moved to
Massachussetts, and I posted on their bird list requesting about
possible birding partners, and I got several responses.  This led me to
label Maryland birders as "unfriendly".  When some responded that they
weren't unfriendly, it only made me more angry, as nobody would put
their money where there mouth was.  I guess I got what I asked for.It
also upset me when I reported sightings of birds that I have seen
before and others on the list question my judgement.  Some of the
off-list mails that I got were downright mean, including ones from
George Jett, Ed Boyd, Matt Hoffman, Hans Holbrook, and others.  I suppose on could say that I deserved it.  I
believe that Jay Jones was the one that came up with the term that I
used to death, "The High Priests of Local Birding", and Gerry Tarbell
clued me in to the late Rick Strom's behavior toward "newbies"; I quote
him here, "Rick lived over near Bel 
Air. Local guru to say the least. When he would jump in on discussions on the 
MDOsprey, it usually ended them. It was like he was the final word and nobody 
much challenged him."  I decided to challenge the experts and got crushed like a bug.Again,
I apologize for the way things went in 2006 on MDOsprey.  I know that I
didn't make any friends, and I would like to make amends in 2007.  I'd
like to be able to go birding and to report what I see, but it's
probably too late for that. For what it's worth, my best sighting of the year so far is a Merlin.Best regards,Richard
_________________________________________________________________
Fixing up the home? Live Search can help.
http://imagine-windowslive.com/search/kits/default.aspx?kit=improve&locale=en-US&source=wlmemailtaglinenov06