I thank Bill for bringing up this very important issue of location
sensitivity. Folks at DNR who deal with endangered species have to deal
with this every day -- balancing the need to get the word out about
important places that harbor the remaining populations of disappearing
plants and animals with the need to protect these populations from various
threats, which sometimes include inadvertent excessive disturbances or
"loving it to death".
Jeff brought up a great question and I also thank Phil for posting the link
to DNR's list of rare, threatened and endangered animals. Some are more
rare than others, but all are included because of their rarity during the
breeding season (although some may be rare in the winter as well). Rare
breeding birds are often sought for various lists (e.g., life, county, year,
etc), and one of the litmus tests should be "what it takes" to observe the
species. If the species is secretive and you have to approach so closely
that you risk flushing it (e.g., hawks/owls on nests), then you risk
harassing it. Or if folks might decide to use tape playback to induce the
bird to approach (e.g., Swainson's warbler), then you risk harassing it.
Multiply this by even just a few potentially "less-than-ethical" birders,
and a bird trying to nest or even establish a breeding territory might
decide to abandon. Clearly some birds make no attempts at being secretive
(e.g., least terns breeding on a rooftop), but for those species that rely
on this or for those that are exceedingly rare, please take Bill Hubick's
suggestions to heart when posting to eBird.
I hope this is just the beginnings of a discussion on a very important
topic!
p.s. Don't forget that secretive birds can be counted on lists if they are
only heard & not seen.
Lynn Davidson
Arnold, MD
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Shenot" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 4:37 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Important--eBird Enhancements and Sensitive Data
.........For an observant but inexperienced person, how would they know what
species are sensitive when entering their data on eBird, unless someone made
a list of species and types of records that they should use judgement on?
Perhaps MOS could do one for MD?.......
IRegards-
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD |