Oh dear,
Here we go again. Norm, I don't know what precipitated allowing this
back handed apology onto this site, but I think Dr Wood has either taken
what I said about Rick "Strom" out of context or misconstrued it somehow. I
don't remember the discussion precisely, but I believe I was trying to use
Rick Blom as an example of somebody who actually studied birds and knew what
he was talking about. Hence when Rick chimed in on discussions, his was
often, rightfully, the final word in the sense of being the correct one.
Believe me, I have only the greatest respect for Rick and we all miss him.
As usual, Dr Wood seems to find his own meaning in things and I resent
being quoted by him. All I really remember about the discussion was that
Wood was so offended by me he threatened to turn me in for spamming. And I
didn't think I was sounding mean-spirited. Those were days when there was
too much of this antagonism going on and it seemed to go away when Wood was
thrown off the list.
Can we get back to just birds again?
And for the record, we went to Piney Run Park today and had a very good
selection of waterfowl including Canvasbacks, Common and Hooded mergs,
buffleheads, coots, and several nice looks at Ruddies.
Land birds included Brown Creepers, Golden-Crowned Kinglets and Yellow
Rumped warblers in addition to the usuals, which included nicely colored up
Bluebirds.
Now isn't that what we should have on here?
Jerry Tarbell
Carroll County
----- Original Message -----
From: "RICHARD JILL WOOD" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 10:57 PM
Subject: [MDOSPREY] an apology
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
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